Sergeant Alfred BuckinghamPrint Page

The tablet commemorates Sergeant Alfred George Kernan Buckingham who died at Rhenoster Kop during the South African (Boer) War.

On the visit of the Duke of York to Australia, Colonel Tom Price who was commanding the Victorian Mounted Rifles, took occasion to suggest that there should be tablets erected in the various churches throughout the State in memory of the soldiers who had lost their lives during the South African War. The matter was taken up with enthusiasm, all the officers, non-commissioned officers and men willingly subscribing to the movement, with the result that there were soon ample funds to carry out Colonel Price's suggestion. In common with many districts we have to mourn the loss of young men who died during the war. One of them, Sergeant A.G. Buckingham, left here with the second contingent as a private,was promoted to the rank of Sergeant,  and after at bout of sickness returned to the front only to be shot down in an obscure skirmish Rhenoster Kop on July 23rd 1901. Sergeant Buckley will be remembered in the township and was employed by his father on Azwarby Estate for some considerable time.

The tablets to the memory of the soldiers have been ready for some time and it was decided that Colonel Price, the old commanding officer of the V.M.R. should be asked to unveil the memorials, which he readily consented to do, and Sunday last was fixed upon as the day on which the ceremony should take place.  The memorials were placed in position on the western wall of St. Luke's Church of England, and in preparation for the ceremony it was so arranged that the Union Jack, with which they were covered, could be drawn aside by pulling a cord on the opposite side of the church near the chancel.  As the Union Jack fell from the tablets the Dead March was played on the organ  by Miss Daley, the large congregation meanwhile standing in the deep silence.
Yea Chronicle, 1st December 1904.

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