A Cornishman who could trace his lineage back to the time of the Spanish Armada lies buried in the Great Karoo. Richard Hastings Tremearne, the British officer who supervised the building of the blockhouse lines in the Karoo, was a descendant of John Tremearne, vicar of Paul, in Cornwall, during the Spanish Armada.
Soon after the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, Tremearne volunteered as a driver and in July, 1900, was attached to a battery of the CIV. He also served in columns under generals Paget and Plumer. Tremearne returned to England in November, 1900, and the following year was presented with a medal and three clasps by the King. Then, in November, 1901, he received a commission in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and joined it in the Karoo. As 2nd Lieutenant of the 5th Battalion he served in Sutherland and Beaufort West. He later moved to Carnarvon where he died of enteric fever on April 14, 1902. Tremearne was born in India in 1879.
