NAM.2022-03-5-1-79

Photograph of a large French siege gun called a Long Tom, which were used by the Boers as field guns, 1900 (c). There are cows beside it, and cattle were sometimes used to pull the gun along. The image was purportedly taken by Benjamin William Caney, who had a family photography business in Durban. Benjamin himself died in 1895 so the image would have been taken by another family member. The image was collected by Sgt Leopold Duffy, who was serving during the Boer War with the 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment). Duffy had enlisted in the South Lancashire Regiment as a Private in 1893. After serving initially in England and Ireland he went to South Africa during the Boer War, where he was promoted to Colour Sergeant in the field in 1901, before proceeding to India in 1903. He remained in India through the First World War, becoming an officer and rising to the rank of Captain. He is the father of war artist Louis C Duffy (1908-1998). From an album of 91 photographs relating to the service of Sgt (later Captain) Leopold Duffy, South Lancashire Regiment, associated with the Boer War (1899-1902).

Boer War (1899-1902)