Percy Devereaux -- "A very sound and capable young man."

The Devereaux family came to Canada from England in 1890 and settled in Ladner, on Arthur Drive.  Percy Devereaux was the second of five children.

The Second Boer War started in 1899 in what is now known as South Africa as Great Britain attempted to overtake two independent republics settled by descendants of Dutch settlers (Boers).

In 1901 at the age of 20 Devereaux joined the South African Constabulary (SAC), a para-military force raised and commanded by Major-General Robert Baden-Powell.

Baden-Powell was a military celebrity at the time, and his name attracted many young men from across the British Empire to join the constabulary.  (Baden-Powell went on to form the Boy Scout Movement and based the uniforms on those worn by the SAC).  Devereaux was among about 1,200 Canadians who enlisted into the SAC and set sail for Cape Town, South Africa.

Devereaux was in the country for about a year, during which time his father Jonah passed away.

Second Class Trooper Percy Devereaux, A" Division SAC was wounded in what may have been a friendly-fire military action on May 30, 1902 and died the next day -- just one day before the war ended and peace was declared.

His older brother Augustus Devereaux had also enlisted with the SAC and 

was on his way to Africa when his brother was killed and would not learn of his brother's death until he reached the Cape.

Devereaux's mother Rhoda tried to negotiate to have her son Percy's body returned to Canada.  She was unsuccessful and his remains are buried somewhere in South Africa, where his name appears on a couple of memorials.

Now, Percy Devereaux's name has been added to the Cenotaph in Memorial Park in Ladner as part of a project to honour those from Delta who died in military service.

submitted by Peter Broznitsky