Cpl Llewellyn Charles Legg

Llewellyn was born in Romford in 1875, but as a young teenager he moved to Brentwood when his parents took over The Chequers Inn on the High Street. He signed up for the army before the Boer War broke out, and went to South Africa with the Royal Horse Artillery.

In a letter home in January 1900 he wrote back about his experience:

We have had several smart brushes with these treacherous devils. They begin to funk at the sight of our little 'pop guns.' The first encounter that we had I laid the first gun, and plumped a shell right in the middle of them. I saw one horse and a rider jump in the air above five feet. Then we fired into their camp. [...] I have had one or two very narrow squeaks. Once a shell from one of their 'Long Toms' burst so near to me that it smothered me with dust, but, fortunately, like the remainder of their shells, it was empty. The second time I was in charge of a convoy of wagons, taking food and water to our troops, when a party of Boers hove in sight. I thought we were for the high road to Pretoria, but decided to make a dash for it. I tell you it was a proper race for life. We managed to make the cover of a kopje just in time, and fell in with one of ours patrols. Part of the transport was mules, and I never had such a job in all my life. I thrashed until my arms ached.

After returning from the war he got married in Westminster in 1903 and moved with his wife to Exeter. He died there in 1938.