William John Lambie (ca.1860 – 9 February 1900) was an Australian journalist and war correspondent, an early casualty of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

History

Lambie was born the younger son of Rev. James Lambie (ca.1811 – 3 May 1884), a Presbyterian minister, in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, Argyllshire, Scotland; they emigrated to Australia around 1865; his father settled in the

City of Wyndham The City of Wyndham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the outer south-western suburbs of Melbourne, within the Melbourne Metropolitan Area, between Melbourne and the regional city of Geelong. It has an area of . The city had a ...

and ministered to the

Werribee River The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the Werribee Plain, expansive lowland plain southwest of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg ...

region. He was associated with fellow war correspondent

Joe Melvin Joseph Dalgarno Melvin (15 August 1852 – 26 June 1909) was a Scottish-born journalist and editor, mainly based in Melbourne, Victoria. History Melvin was born in Banff, Scotland, a son of John Melvin (ca.1829 – 21 September 1905), and his wi ...

during the Sudan campaign, when he received a bullet wound in the leg. In October 1899 he boarded the steamer ''Medic'' for South Africa as war correspondent for the

South Australian Register ''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and f ...

Sydney Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', also nicknamed ''The Tele'', is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday a ...

and

Melbourne Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

. The following February he and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n war correspondent A. Hales were following behind Captain Cameron's skirmishing party near Rensburg and

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many ...

, when they were surprised by a party of

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...

s and ordered to surrender, but they refused and galloped off. Lambie was felled by a shot to the head and Hales escaped.

Family

He married Clara Ada "Dolly" Church in

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

on 15 January 1892. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambie, William J Australian journalists Australian war correspondents Australian newspaper editors 1860 births 1900 deaths British emigrants to colonial Australia