. The History of the Maidstone Companies, Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) : by Frederick J. Wood. ost of their comrades from Maid-stone, coming out later, were sent up country. A changecame at last, however, and in small parties the men werepassed to the front, having kept together longer than anyof the other contingents. The only member of the firstparty to remain at Cape Town for the whole period of hisservice was Staff-sergeant Capon, who was Acting-Sergeant-Major of No. 5a General Hospital, a positionhe held with much credit to himself until he took hisdischarge to join the South Afr
. The History of the Maidstone Companies, Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) : by Frederick J. Wood. ost of their comrades from Maid-stone, coming out later, were sent up country. A changecame at last, however, and in small parties the men werepassed to the front, having kept together longer than anyof the other contingents. The only member of the firstparty to remain at Cape Town for the whole period of hisservice was Staff-sergeant Capon, who was Acting-Sergeant-Major of No. 5a General Hospital, a positionhe held with much credit to himself until he took hisdischarge to join the South African Constabulary. Corporal Pickford was one of the first of this partyto go up country, being sent to join the Scottish Hospitalat Kroonstad, with which he remained five months. Hewas then attached to the 20th Field Hospital, of whichSergeant-Major Fowlers brother was at that time Ser-geant-Major. The hospital afterwards went into theTransvaal, joining Colonel Beatsons column at Middel-burg, this being one of the nine columns operating underGeneral Sir Binden Blood. After trekking for a fortnight,. Maidstone Companies, (Vols.) 6i the column came to Wagon Drift, where the first seriousfighting took place. The Boers attacked at ten ,but were driven off in about two hours, mainly throughthe efforts of the Volunteer Elswick Battery. Thewounded having been collected, the column moved on toReitfontein. From there Corporal Pickford went outwith a flying column across Oliphants River to recon-noitre. The column then proceeded on its way toBronkhurst Spruit, the scene of the first fight in theBoer War of 81. The next fighting seen by CorporalPickford was at Welmans Rust, when he was out witha small column of one hundred and fifty men. Theywere surprised and surrounded by Boers, and the wholeof them, with two pom-poms, captured, but not untiltwenty-one had been killed and forty-two wounded,including the medical officer. The Boers went away thenext morning with their prisone
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