Very Scarce BECHUANALAND FIELD FORCE Ephemera including an original copy of THE TIN POT OF BECHUANALAND

This lot comprises of three ephemeral items relating to the Bechuanaland Field Force, a British military engagement that never happened.

1.) The first item is a "List of Passengers" issued by the Colonial Mail Line for the R.M.S. Pembroke Castle, dated 26th November 1884. The ship sailed from London on the 26th of November and Dartmouth on the 28th with the destination being The Cape of Good Hope. What makes this passenger list interesting is that it was the ship that carried the troops, headed by Sir Charles Warren, to South Africa for their engagement in Bechuanaland. Next to the names on the list of passengers for the First Saloon there are marginal notes in purple pencil identifying the regiments and functions of the various individuals. The second saloon contained 82 Royal Engineers, 8 servants, and 320 Recruits for the Cape Mounted Rifles.

I suspect the pencil notes were made by Major Elsdale R.E., who headed the balloon detachment of the Bechuanaland Field Force. It was the first time in British military history that balloons were used. See: https://www.angloboerwar.com/forum/gch-misc/31348-the-first-english-war-balloon-bechuanaland-1885

Major Elsdale's name appears on the list of passengers in the first saloon.

16 x 11cm, 4 pages, printed on stiff card.

2.) The second item is an original copy of THE TIN POT OF BECHUANALAND printed in Vryburg, capital of the "freebooter" Republic of Stellaland, in 1885. After it was realised that there would be no battle, as there was no enemy in sight when the large military force eventually arrived in Stellaland, and that all the fanfare was for nothing, one of the troops with a flair for irony composed this poem and had it printed on the press brought along by the Royal Engineers. I assume these leaflets were then distributed among the men as a souvenir. THE TIN POT OF BECHUANALAND is either the first or second example of printing in the short lived Republic of Stellaland, as the Royal Engineers printed another item at the same period, a booklet titled "List of Officers and Warrant Officers of the Bechuanaland Field Force, March 1885, Printed at the Royal Engineers Press, Camp, Vryburg." Although not dated the TIN POT comes from the same press as the dimensions correspond with those of the above mentioned List of Officers, 17 x 10.5 cm.

Surviving copies of the TIN POT are exceedingly scarce as it was not intended to last longer than its immediate objective, which was presumably that of distracting the troops during their long periods of inactivity.

3.) The third item is the passenger list for the return voyage to England, dated 26th August, 1885. It was printed by W. A. Richards and Sons, Government Printers, Castle Street, Cape Town. Major Elsdale's name appears on the list of passengers in the first saloon. The ship was R.M.S. "Pretoria".