29/10/2026
On this day in history – 29 October 1900, the City Imperial Volunteers (CIV) returned from the Boer War in South Africa to London, landing from the ship at Southampton and being taken by four special trains to Paddington station.
The special trains were hauled from Southampton to Basingtoke by London & South Western Railway locomotives, where four Great Western Railway Atbara class 4-4-0 locomotives, ‘Pretoria’, ‘Roberts’, ‘Powerful’ and ‘Maine’, took over to complete the journey to Paddington via Reading. This photograph, published in the Great Western Railway Magazine, shows the changeover of locomotives for one of the trains, the GWR locomotive, carrying the CIV shield, on the right.
The reason for the return to Paddington station, rather than the LSWR’s Waterloo, was explained in the Great Western Railway Magazine’s November 1900 edition:
“Immediately it became known that the CIV were returning home, the public with one accord made up its mind that the Volunteers should have a reception worthy of the occasion, and from what happened subsequently, it is apparent that the Military Authorities were of a similar opinion.
“The route usually adopted on this side of the water, for the conveyance of troops proceeding from London to the Cape, has been by railway between Waterloo and Southampton, but in the case of the City Imperial Volunteers the question of the most suitable point of arrival in the Metropolitan area was from the first vigorously discussed, with the result, that there appeared to be insuperable difficulties in the way of adequately accommodating the Volunteers at the stations of the Southern railways.
“At length it occurred to the authorities that everything that could be desired existed at Paddington, and an enquiry was made of the General Manager of the Great Western Railway as to whether it would be possible for his Company to make the arrangements necessary. Mr Wilkinson (who, it may be mentioned, is a Lieut. Colonel of the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps; a member of the Army Railway Council, and an old member of the Honourable Artillery Company), addressed himself so zealously to the question, that within 24 hours of the first intimation, it was finally decided by the authorities that the volunteers should enter the Metropolis through the gate of Paddington Station.
“The announcement that the CIV would come to Paddington created intense enthusiasm amongst the Great Western staff, and we all felt proud of the honour conferred upon the Company, and of the assurance that everything would be carried out worthy of the historic event.
“It may not be generally known that the distance from Southampton to Paddington, via Basingstoke, is very little longer than from Southampton to Waterloo, and that any slight advantage there may be in this respect so far as the latter route is concerned, is more than compensated for by the facility which the Great Western Company possess in the four lines of rails between Reading and Paddington.
“Moreover, the internal arrangements at Paddington Station specially lend themselves to the detrainment of a large body of troops, there being two large platforms and a capacious roadway in one stretch between the two principal arrival lines; and when the Volunteers reached the terminus, they were able with the greatest ease, to line up in this open space in readiness for the commencement of their march through the Metropolis.
“The route of the march of the Volunteers from Paddington to the City was via Praed Street, Edgware Road, through Hyde Park, Piccadilly, St James’ Street, Pall Mall, the Strand, Fleet Street, and Ludgate Hill to St Paul’s Cathedral, thence to the Guildhall, and thousands of Londoners were thereby enabled to accord the returned warriors a hearty welcome, and to manifest their feelings of joy and enthusiasm. The occasion is an historic one, and the Great Western Railway Company feel that they were much honoured in having been selected to carry the City Imperial Volunteers to London on their return from the seat of war.
“The whole of the arrangements were carried out by the Company with such precision, and in so satisfactory a manner, as to evoke high praise from the Military Officers, and the fact that the special trains were run without interfering in the slightest degree with the ordinary traffic, reflects much credit upon all concerned.”
For these special train duties No 3374 ‘Baden Powell’ was temporarily renamed ‘Pretoria’; No 3392 ‘White’ became ‘Powerful’; and No 3373 ‘Atbara’ became ‘Maine’. No 3387 always carried the name ‘Roberts’.
These locomotive names were all significant to the Boer War: Pretoria was the capital of the Boer republic, captured by the British army in June 1900; Roberts was the successful general who reversed the defeats suffered early in the war by the British army; Powerful was a battleship whose captain sent a brigade of naval guns 189 miles across difficult terrain to help in the defence of Ladysmith; and Maine was a hospital ship during the Boer War, conversion of which was funded by the American Ladies Hospital Ship Society, based in London and headed by Jennie Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill.
