The Boer War Pets of the 3rd Leinsters

When the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Leinster Regiment left for South Africa in early 1900 to serve in the Second Anglo Boer War (1899–1902), most of its men had never set foot outside Ireland. Two years later they returned sun beaten, seasoned, and accompanied by some strange regimental pets.

The war had begun in October 1899, catching the British surprised and under prepared, and leading to the sieges of Kimberley, Ladysmith, and Mafeking. As reinforcements poured into South Africa, the 3rd Leinsters, whose depot was Birr Barracks, completed a successful recruitment drive to bring the battalion up to strength.

The battalion was embodied on 18 January 1900 and sent to Woolwich for garrison duty. In February it was asked whether it would volunteer for active service, as militia units could not be ordered abroad. The men agreed, mobilised, and sailed from Southampton for South Africa. Once there, the greatest threats were climate, disease and accidents rather than engagements with the Boers.

The landscape fascinated the men. Sergeant Major Richard Haddick, a keen naturalist, collected birds and seeds which were later planted in the grounds of Birr Castle. Others encountered scorpions. One was found in an officer’s boot and preserved in spirits.

Some animals were kept as pets. One was a large nineteen pound tortoise, thought to be a century old. It was noted for its strength and its habit of wandering miles from camp, with locals occasionally returning it.

A more unusual pet was a female chacma baboon named Jinny, acquired on an island in the Orange River. She stood two and a half feet tall and was described by the men as formidable. She was accompanied by a small albino vervet monkey named Nancy. Both belonged to Captain Paget Edward Stuart Reeves, a Dublin born career officer who would later receive the Distinguished Service Order for his service in the war.

Sergeant Bernard Mullins, who had an interest in natural history, was tasked with training Jinny. He taught her manual exercise, how to drink a pint of beer, how to smoke a briar pipe, how to eat Cape cake, and even how to perform tumbles and other gymnastics.

Colourful necklace brought back by 3rd Leinsters

After leaving South Africa on 7 May 1902, the 3rd Leinsters arrived home on 26 May, where the people of Birr turned out to welcome them at the barracks. Many men brought back souvenirs such as African weapons or colourful beads, but Captain Reeves brought back his baboon and vervet monkey.

Both were presented to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland on 6 June 1902. Jinny was intended as a mate for Charlie, a notably large male chacma baboon also acquired in South Africa during the Boer War and presented to the RZSI by the officers of the North Cork Rifles on 1 November 1901. Charlie was housed in an open air enclosure attached to Haughton House. The North Cork Rifles saw him as a faithful companion who had served alongside them during the war, and the zoo even allowed them to bring Charlie to annual militia training camps so he could take his place in the ranks.

Jinny’s skull in the National Museum of Ireland (registration number NMINH:1902.251.1)

Jinny did not survive long in captivity, dying only a few months after her arrival. Primates had high mortality rates in the zoo, and Charlie himself died in 1904. Jinny’s head was sold to the Natural History Museum, buried in sand to strip the flesh, and added to the museum’s collection on 23 May 1903.

It remains there today, a relic of a Victorian campaign, and a reminder of one of the strange companions the 3rd Leinsters brought back to Ireland.