With thanks to John Daniel whose discovery of a poem written by Leonard Flemming led to my further research. If anyone has any definite information please get in touch.
The Queenstown Mounted Infantry was formed on the 6th March 1901 and was disbanded on 31st June 1902. The Regiment was first commanded by Captain J Hoskins, then by Captain W J Elson. It had no connection with the Queenstown Rifle Volunteers.
It seems that Leonard served during the Frist World War in the British Army:
“Leonard Denman Flemming was gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant in the Regiment on 7th August 1914. He was initiated into the Lodge on 31st March 1915, by which date he had been promoted Lieutenant."
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Leonard is in the group photograph shown above on the day of his initiation with his fellow Lodge members Lt Col Bradney, Captains Sampson, Scott and Hunter, Lt Flemming and 2nd Lt Keeson. Leonard is 3rd from the right on the front/middle row and is listed in the caption as Lieut LD Flemming (Transport Officer).
The 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles) was a Territorial Army infantry battalion of the British Army. The London Regiment was formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, and the Queen Victoria's Rifles were one of twenty six units brought together in that manner.
The British 1921 Census records Leonard living at 11, Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, London, UK. He is listed as the stepson of one George A. Autsam, a journalist and composer born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, whose wife was Minna Autsam. Leonard is recorded as being a farmer.
Another website mentions that Leonard owned a farm in the Orange Free State, South Africa.
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| “Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express”, 09 November 1929 |
In London in 1929 Leonard apparently married Wilma L K Berkeley, an Australian soprano.
Leonard died in South Africa in 1946.
"The Silent Volunteers" a poem written by Lieutenant Leonard Flemming:
NO less, real heroes than the men who died,
Are you who helped the frenzied ranks to win;
Galloping heroes - silently - side by side,
Models of discipline.
You, too, had pals from whom you had to part,
Pals rather young to fight, or else too old -
And though the parting hurt your honest heart,
You kept your grief untold.
Thus in the parting have you proved your worth,
As you have proved it time and time again;
You, the most human animal on earth -
Nobler perhaps than men.
Nobler, perhaps, because in all you did,
In all you suffered, you could not know why;
Only, you guessed - and did as you were bid -
Just galloped on - to die.
Unflinchingly, you faced the screaming shell,
And charged and charged, until the ground was gained,
Then falling, mangled, and suffered simple hell,
And never once complained.
There, where your life blood spilled around you fast,
Lying unheeded by the surging van,
You closed your great big patient eyes at last.
And died - a gentleman.
Sources: Information supplied by John Daniel, Find my past and
Catherine Reilly “English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press,New York, 1978) p. 395
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143667959
https://anglo437.rssing.com/chan-59775919/all_p140.html
https://www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/south-african-units/3313-queenstown-mounted-infantry
https://www.bowlerhat.com.au/saforce/
http://victoriarifles.com/about-victoria-rifles/distinguished-brethren/distinguished-brethren-f-h/leonard-denman-fleming
https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A111711
https://www.chapter1.co.za/products/author/Flemming,Leonard/~/product_price_desc
https://lesserknownartists.blogspot.com/2023/05/fortunino-matania-1881-1963-italian.html
“Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express”, 09 November 1929
Photos: Officers of the 3/9th Battalion Queen Victoria Rifles 1915 and Leonard and Wilma on their wedding day in 1929.
