How Winston Churchill honoured heroism of SA train driver's mate

A South African train driver’s assistant whose heroics more than a century ago may have changed the course of history is back in the headlines. 

The Albert Medal‚ awarded for bravery to Alexander Stewart of Pietermartizburg by Winston Churchill in 1910‚ is going on auction in London and is expected to fetch £20‚000 (about R344‚000).

Churchill awarded the medals to Stewart and train driver Charles Wagner 11 years after he witnessed them saving British troops from an ambush during the Anglo-Boer War.

In the incident‚ near Chieveley Station in Natal on November 15‚ 1899‚ an armoured train carrying more than 100 British soldiers was attacked by Boer troops‚ who derailed three carriages.

Wagner was bleeding from the head and began to make his escape. Churchill‚ who was on the scene as a newspaper war correspondent‚ went after him and convinced him and Stewart to stay and help.

Churchill recorded in his diary that he told Stewart: “No man is hit twice on the same day.”

He added that a wounded man who continued to do his duty was always rewarded for distinguished gallantry.

“He pulled himself together‚ wiped the blood off his face‚ climbed back into the cab of his engine‚ and thereafter obeyed every order which I gave him‚” Churchill wrote.

For 50 minutes the men worked to heave the carriages clear of the tracks‚ even though they were still under siege by the Boers. Then the engine was able to escape with 76 of the soldiers.

During the commotion Churchill was captured by the Boers‚ escaping six weeks later by climbing over a toilet wall.

In 1910‚ when Churchill had become home secretary‚ he informed the Governor of Natal and the railway company that Wagner and Stewart were to be awarded the Albert Medal.

Wagner’s medal was later donated by his family to the Military History Museum in Durban. Stewart’s family had three replicas of his medal cast‚ donating them to museums and one of Churchill’s family members. The original was sold by Stewart’s family over 20 years ago. It is this medal that will be auctioned on May 9.

Churchill later acknowledged that Stewart and Wagner’s bravery had cemented his role as a leader‚ and had helped to pave his way to becoming prime minister in 1940.

• Serena Hawkey is on a study abroad programme with Round Earth Media.