Joseph Cole was born at Tattershall but grew up at the ‘Red Lion’ which was run by his father Robert, and achieved some local fame as a racing cyclist.

He left Revesby to join the Army in the Boer War. With a group of others from the Horncastle area, he joined the Volunteer Company of the Lincolnshire Regiment. During that conflict he won attention, being singled out by Lord Roberts ‘for meritorious conduct in the field of action.’ In fighting at Nitral’s (or ‘Uitval’s’) Nek in July 1900 he prevented the Boers from capturing the British horses by cutting them loose for which he received a medal for gallantry from Major General Thynne. Nearly two hundred of the Lincolns were captured, Col Roberts was injured (not to be confused with Lord Roberts), and there were fears that hundreds had been killed.

After the Boer War he was ‘stricken by a mysterious illness’ and taken to the military hospital at Netley. The problem turned out to be a parasite, largely unknown in England at the time. After his recovery, Joe went to Canada.

At the age of 57 he was killed in a tragic accident in Nova Scotia along with two other men. All three men were explosives experts working for Canadian Industries Ltd and had been brought to the town of Waverley to investigate the risks from an old nitro-glycerine plant. Explosives had been stored there during the Great War and the site was considered a public safety risk, possibly from chemicals which had ‘saturated’ the buildings. The means of testing or clearing the site was to set ‘shots’ of dynamite where they thought nitro-glycerine might have accumulated. They set four ‘shots’ cartridges with little effect, then a fifth before hiding behind an old stone building 75ft from the site. The explosion ‘absolutely demolished’ the building and buried it in another four feet of rubble.

While they were on site there was a huge explosion which left a crater 60ft wide and 25ft deep. A fourth man survived by stumbling into an old well just as the explosion occurred.

A brother, Arthur, had gone to New Zealand.

ADRIAN GRAY MA

Historical Adviser

Pilgrims & Prophets Christian Heritage Tours

Remember to reserve your ticket for the Revesby Estate History Tour with me on the 19th July – go to the Estate online shop to book now!