Welcome to Ladysmith in the Zulu Kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa!

Dr Arthur C Stark

Various sources of information on Dr Stark

Except from How we kept the flag flying Donald McDonald Page 77/78

Just about dusk on the evening of the 18th the mysterious gun which no one heard, sent two shells hissing into town, both evidently aimed at the Royal Hotel. Dr Stark, a visitor from Torquay, England, was standing near the door talking to Mr Mc Hugh of the Daily Telegraph and they turned as the first shell struck the pavement on the opposite side of the street. Within a few seconds another came through he roof, passed through the bedrooms and went out at the front door taking poor Dr Stark just above the knees as he stood sideways. One leg was cut clean off, the other frightfully shattered down to the foot. Catch me he moaned as he fell forward on his face, his blood spilt over Mc Hugh's hands and arms. The correspondent escaped without a scratch, though two others who stood by, one of them a soldier, were hit. Dr Stark's tragic experience was an illustration of the futility of trying to avoid shells. He was quite a familiar figure in the town and each morning we seen, a tall man in a long overcoat, walking placidly down to the river with a anglers basket slung across his shoulders. In this he carried his luncheon and his anxiety to get out of dander led to a good deal of banter. He had just returned from the river bank ??Well Doctor?? said a friend ??got back from your daily picnic??? and before he could answer he was cut down. He had had bad luck, the poor fellow, right from the beginning. Unknown to many in the town and present mere with a tourists curiosity, to witness great events and desirous to be use in the ambulance work, he was arrested early in the siege for being a spy but several of the correspondents were able to vouch for his bona fides. He died on the operating table an hour after being hit. There were circumstances in the case which made a deep impression. Dr Stark was a widower who had left daughters in England, a quiet, quaint man who went about with a butterfly net, sometimes with a fishing rod, a man of queer little fads and fancies who could not move in a community without exiting notice but always genial and popular. We buried the poor fellow Sunday afternoon in the little cemetery where new grave were becoming painfully plentiful. A week before his death the doctor had found a cat mewing pitifully at a deserted home and made friends with it. He took it everyday with him to the river bank and had it in his arms when he was killed.


Extract from letter written by Yule H M Crosby of 43 Ennis Road, Parkview, Johannesburg (7 October 1971)


My father came to Durban in 1881 to participate in the Zulu War, but it was over when he arrived. He was a pioneer in Barberton in 1884, a pioneer with Gen. Botha in Vryheid in 1890, and a Rand Pioneer in Johannesburg in 1887. He went right through the siege and 8 stone at the end.

He was on the hotel verandah when Dr Stark was killed. He picked up the base of the shell that killed him. I used it as a paper weight for many year and I gave it to my son. If he will part with it I will send it to you.


Quote from Bella Craw


In the afternoon, or later, at about seven in the evening, another shell came through the Royal Hotel, killing a poor man standing in the doorway, taking off both his legs. Dr Stark by name. Rumour has it that he was very wealthy but went to every war and offered his services free. He generally carried a fish basket on his back with the medical comforts.


General Comments about Dr Stark


Number 1

Everyone has seen the shell base in the pavement outside the Royal Hotel but very few know anything about Dr Stark whom it killed. He was a medical Doctor from Torquay, England, was a famous ornithologist who happened to be in Ladysmith when it was besieged. He stayed at the Royal Hotel but spent most of his days in the dugouts in the banks of the Klip River. One evening at 19:30 a shell from Long Tom hit the Royal Hotel, fell through the roof, down the stairs and hit Dr Stark, amputating his legs. He died soon afterwards. His writing and drawings of South African birds were found amongst his belongings ??The Birds of South Africa?? in volumes was published after the war.


Number 2

Everyone has seen the shell fragment in the pavement outside the Royal Hotel, but very few know anything about the Dr Stark whom it killed. Dr Stark was a widower, aged 54, from Torquay, England. He traveled extensively and had written a standard work on ??The Birds of South Africa??. He had the ill luck to find himself trapped in Ladysmith when the siege started. He was very sympathetic to the Boer cause and was actually suspected of being a spy, but he was a very pleasant fellow, a good conversationalist and popular. He found plenty of friends who vouched for him. He was not very fond of shell fire, and left the Royal Hotel each morning at sunrise, returning from the dugouts in the banks of the Klip River every evening after sunset. He usually wore a long overcoat, carried a butterfly net, wore an angler's basket strapped to his shoulder, and carried a cat. On the fatal day he was standing at the entrance of the Royal Hotel, chatting with a group of War Correspondents and others, at about 19:30 when a shell from Long Tom on Pepworth Hill went through the roof, down the stairs, striking a wall and was deflected to hit Dr Stark, frightfully mangling his legs, he died within a few hours. It is said that his last words were,?? Look after my poor cat??


??Dr Stark ?? from ?? Pictures of War?? by John Stuart


??Two minutes afterwards another shell went through the roof of the hotel, through the ladies?? sitting room, glanced against the stone wall of the bar, and went out through the front door. Dr Stark, of Torquay, who was later than usual for dinner, happened to be standing in the doorway, and the shell took off his right leg, also mangling the left most horribly. Mr McHugh, the Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, who had gone out to see the effect of the first shell, was talking to Dr Stark at the time, and he very quickly applied tourniquets. But all effort was fruitless. Dr Stark could not survive the double amputation following so terrible a shock, and within and hour he was dead. His death brought things uncomfortably close to all of us, for we all liked him; a pleasant unobtrusive well-informed man, full of unexpected knowledge, and a capital talker. He was always friendly, and one liked his conversation because his way of putting things was ever unexpected and his knowledge was at the disposal of any one who asked him a question. It is one of the ironies of events that he had come to Ladysmith with the object of assisting the wounded and when the big battle which we expect will shortly come, his services will be missed. The remarkable stone pavement did not burst. If it had burst not one of dozen or more men who were standing round the door would have escaped unscathed; and if the shell had fallen a very little short, a roomful of men would have been killed.
R J McHugh: Daily Telegraph p70


??We were often disturbed by shells bursting in close proximity and throwing splinters and stones on the roof, but did not pay particular heed until Saturday week, when a most distressing occurrence took place just at dinner time, by which Dr Stark, a medical gentlemen practicing in Torquay, Devonshire, lost his life, and three other were wounded.

Dr Stark came out to South Africa with the intention of offering his services during the campaign, and I believe he did, on several occasions, render service. He was very nervous about shell fire, however, and usually spent most of the day in the shelter-pits along the riverbank, retuning to the hotel at dusk. On the evening he met his death he had only got back from the river when he was hit. A number of us had sat down to dinner when a shell from Long Tom burst very close to the hotel. A large quantity of debris was thrown over the building, and in company with Mr Melton Prior, of the Illustrated London News, I rose from the table and went out to see if any one had been hurt. At the hotel door I met Dr Stark, and stopped to speak to him, while Mr Prior turned back to the dining room. He had barely done so when a shell came through the roof of the hotel, passed throught the walls of two rooms and the floor of the drawing room, and glancing off the wall of the verstibule, passed out through the door where Dra Stark and I were stanking. A shower of dust and splinters blinded me for amoment, and then I saw Dr Starke and two dtrooper of the Imperial Light Horse, who were passing the door at the moment, lying of the ground. The troopers who were only cut about the head and face, were speedily on their feet, but the poor doctor remained motionless on the heap of earth and stones thrown up by the shell. I stooped to lift him but say to my horror, the one leg was completely severed at the thigh, whole the other was torn to ribbons from the knee downwards. As rapidly as possible I applied a rough tourniquet to the injured limbs and had the wounde man removed to the hospital but he died on the operating table a few minutes afterwards. The injured troopers were taken to hospital also and had their wounds dressed. A Negro, whose foot was partly blown off, was the only other person injured by the shell. I myself, fortunately escaped without a scratch.


Dr C W Stark ?? a victim of the Siege - died 18 November 1899 by R E Stevenson


Everyone has seen the shell fragment in the pavement outside the Royal Hotel, but very few know anything about the Dr Stark whom it killed.

Had they lived in Ladysmith during the Siege, they would have seen a tall, kindly looking gentleman, often in a long overcoat and often carrying a butterfly net, with his lunch in an angler??s basket strapped to his shoulders and carrying a cat.

Dr Stark was a widower aged 54 from Torquay, England. He travlled extensively and had written a standard work on ??The Birds of South Africa??. He had the ill luck to find himself trapped in ladysmith when the siege started. He was very sympathetic to the Boer cause and was actually suspected of being a spy. But he was a very pleasant fellow, a good conversationalist and popular. He found plenty of friends who vouched for him. He did not practice his profession during the siege, which is surprising in the light of the shortage of doctors. He was not very fond of shellfire and left the hotel every morning at sunrise returning from the dugouts in the banks of the Klip River every evening after sunset.

On the fatal day he took a chance and returned rather early. He was standing at the hotel entrance chatting with a group of War Correspondents and others, when a shell from ??Silent Susan?? on Umbulwana went right through the roof, down the stairs and striking the wall was deflected and hit Dr Stark. The shell did not burst or it would assuredly have killed all in the group. It did, however, strike Dr Stark, frightfully mangling his legs. One of the correspondents snatched a walking stick from a passer-by and broke it to tighten an improvised tourniquet. The case, however was hopeless from the start and the doctor died within a few hours. It is said that his last words were ??Look after my poor cat??.



Dr Stark ?? from an article called ?? Death on the pavement?? by John Clark


The most detailed account of the death of Dr Stark is to be found in a book ??The Siege of Ladysmith??, written from dispatches sent to the Daily Telegraph by war correspondent R J McHugh.

The Doctor was a volunteer medico who came from Torquay, England, to assist the Army medical services. He found himself besieged in Ladysmith, unable to stand the strain of daily shelling. It was noticed that he spent most of the day in a shellproof dugout in the Klip River bank and only returned to the hotel for meals.

His place of residence was the Royal Hotel where a number of officers, war correspondents and important people stayed. The Boer apparently had information that it was a valuable target for they shelled it at breakfast time (8:00), lunch time (13:30) and dinner (19:00) as if hoping to kill a number of birds with one stone. Already a bedroom and the smoking-room had received direct hits.

Knowledgeable people who had been in previous wars took the hint and moved out. On this particular November evening the war correspondent and the doctor were just sitting down to dinner when a shell burst very close to the hotel, showering the roof and outside walls with debris. Stark and the correspondent McHugh went out to see what damage had been done.

They were standing talking outside the entrance to the hotel when the fatal shell arrived through the roof. It broke through two walls of a room, hit the floor of the drawing room, ricocheted through the wall of the vestibule and passed out of the entrance door.

The correspondent knew no more for a few minutes except confusion, smoke, debris and shock. When he picked himself up, he found that a passing African had lost a part of his foot, two troopers of the Imperial Light Horse had suffered lacerations to face and head and Dr Stark was lying beside a mound of earth torn up by the shell.

McHugh staggered over to Stark and recoiled in horror. The shell had amputated one leg at the groin and had mangled the other leg below the knee.

Quickly he fixed a tourniquet and got stretcher-bearers to carry the doctor to hospital. Stark died on the operating table a few minutes after admission.

That night Ladysmith suffered intense cannonade. Nothing was to be heard but deafening explosions in the streets, nothing to be seen except the red glare of exploding shells.

Next day the shaken correspondent moved out of the Royal Hotel to the dugouts in the bank of the Klip River.

The shell, which killed Stark was fired from Long Tom, dug in on Pepworth Hill, a hay stacked shaped hill, 1000 feet high and six miles away. The photograph shows the shell base set in the pavement outside the present reconstructed Royal Hotel ?? a grim memorial to Stark.

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