Dr.
Frederick George Engelbach, * Bromley, London 1865,
+
Nooitgedacht, South Africa
13. 12. 1900, "qualified as Doctor and
Surgeon at St Bartholomew's in
London in 1866 (...), was killed by a
bullet" at Nooitgedacht
during the Boer War.
Vater von Reginald Engelbach |
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Dr
F. G. Engelbach
Local
Doctor
Frederick George Engelbach qualified as Doctor and Surgeon at
St Bartholomew's in London in 1866, then came to
Moretonhampstead. He lived at Cookshayes in Court Street, and
practised first independently, then with Dr Collyns in Cross Street,
then as senior partner with Dr J. S. F. Clark. At that time he was also Medical Attendant to the Convalescent Home and
to the Birch Tor and Vitifer mines. In 1898 he moved to
London.
Captain
of Volunteers
He entered very thoroughly into the life of the town and was
instrumental in brightening the lives of the workers in many
ways. In 1896 he raised the local company for the Volunteer
Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment and was appointed
Captain. Always throwing himself heart and soul into whatever
he undertook, he spent his hard-earned holiday at Southsea, in order to
pass the school of instruction and thoroughly fit himself for
his position.
Army
Surgeon
When
the Boer War broke out he volunteered for service and was appointed
Civil Surgeon by the War Office. He arrived in time to
accompany
General French in his famous ride to Kimberley. Always close
to the
front, he then accompanied the army in its march to Bloemfontein and
then to Pretoria. He also went to Foundeberg at the time of
the
surrender of Prinsloo and was present at the battle of Diamond
Hill. His last letters stated that he was at Riefontein and
that a Boer
attack was not improbable. The death of Surgeon Engelbach of
the
Yeomanry hospital was a typically brave one. Tending the
wounded under
heavy fire he was shot through the palm of the left hand and had just
made a grim joke about now being handicapped in his work when, in
standing up to dress his wound, he was killed by a bullet through the
forehead. At Nooitgedacht he met the death he would have
wished killed
while assisting his wounded under a hail of the enemy's bullets.
From obituaries in the Lancet
(1901, I, 211) and Brit. Med. J. (1901, I, 311)
Dr
Engelbach has a memorial
in the church, where there is also an episcopal chair that he himself
made.
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Inscriptions
in St Andrew's Church
To the glory of God and in
memory of FREDERICK GEORGE ENGELBACH for 10 years Medical Practitioner
in this town and first Commanding Officer
of G. Co. (Moretonhampstead) 5th V.B.D.R. who was killed whilst
succouring the wounded at the battle of Nooitgedacht, South Africa,
Dec. 13th 1900. Erected by the inhabitants and other friends, December
1901.
This chair was carved and
presented to the Parish Church of Moretonhampstead, Sth. Devon, by Dr.
F. G. ENGELBACH who for 10 years practised in the district and
worshipped in this church, finally laying down his life in South Africa
whilst attending the wounded under fire on 13th December 1900.
(Moretonhampstead History
Society) |
| Photo:
Robert Cutts |
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