This stained glass window is dedicated to the memory of Private John Andrew Donegan, one of the first Canadian soldiers to be killed in the South African War.
John Andrew Donegan was born on 17 December 1878 at Perth ON, west of Ottawa. His father was an “engine driver” on the Perth and Smith Falls railway before being promoted to Inspector of Locomotives in the Canadian Pacific Railway shops at London ON. John Donegan was educated at Perth and, after his family had moved to London, at St. Peter’s School and the Collegiate Institute in London. On completing his education, he worked at a boot and shoe store before working at the CPR freight office in Chatham ON. Donegan was a member of the 26th Middlesex Light Infantry Active Militia when he volunteered for the Boer War. He sailed for South Africa on 30 October 1899 with B Company of the Royal Canadian Regiment, arriving in Cape Town on 20 Nov.
The British had suffered a number of surprising set-backs in the 1899 opening battles of the Boer War but with the arrival of reinforcements, they put in place a new strategy. In February 1900, they sent troops marching across the plains towards the Boer capitals rather than use the vulnerable railway lines. On 17 February, British forces reached the banks of the Modder River at Paardeberg Drift where a 5000 strong Boer commando awaited them. On the morning of 18 February, the RCR were ordered across the river and once the crossing completed, were ordered to advance down Gun Hill. They had barely started their advance when they came under murderous fire from the dug-in Boers. It is during this action that Private John Andrew Donegan was killed. He is buried at the Vendusie Drift Garden of Remembrance, Paardeberg, South Africa.
