Introduction
From the 17th century and mainly during the 19th century, thousands of Swedes emigrated to South Africa. The reasons were mainly trade, religion and work opportunities, especially to work in the gold and diamond mines.
There are still around 4000 Swedes living in the southern part of Africa, mainly in South Africa. (2021). The figures may differ in 2025, as no specific details are available at the moment.
When searching for Scandinavian names in the database of Commonwealth War Grave Commission I find a lot of names within this category. At the moment I have 188 Swedes who served and died in the Great War in my database. They are divided as follows; Canadian Units 118, Australian Units 60, New Zealand Units 3, British Units 6, and South African Units 1. (January 2026)
These figures may differ as I am still researching very actively within my subject.
The sailor from Stigsjö parish
Pvt Richard Emanuel Nydahl was born on May 17th, 1880 in Stigsjö parish in the Västernorrland county, in the landscape of Ångermanland. He was raised by his parents, his mother Katarina Theodora Anneli Charlotta Lundqvist, and his father Carl Gustaf Nydahl.
Richard Emanuel is noted as absent from early 1900 in the Swedish Church books, and there is no specific date when he emigrated from Sweden. It is common when it comes to those sailors who often left Sweden on their normal voyages and never came back, as they jumped ship in other countries, especially in North America, Australia, New Zealand, according to the facts about the other Swedish sailors I have in my research.
Richard ended up in Cape Town, South Africa and got married to Christina Holtmase in October 1904. His profession is then mentioned as Constable.
Military Service in the Boer War
Before he married Christina, Richard served in several units connected to South African Forces. From January 9th, 1901 to April 11th, 1901 he served in Warrens Mounted Infantry (WMI) and later joined the Cape Police from September 16th, 1901 to the end of Second Boer War, May 31st, 1902.
The unit served in different situations during the Boer War in normal war duties but also to to look after the numerous rebels and suspects who were caught during the actions.
I can see other Scandinavian names in the lists and will maybe one day look further into these as well.
Scandinavian units on the Boer side
Richard Nydahl fought on the British side during the Boer War, but there were quite many Scandinavians who fought on the Boer side. According to information on the web page angloboerwar.com, with the main source from the Swedish author Stellan Bojerud, there were around 58 Swedish volunteers together with individuals from Denmark, Norway and Finland. Below a photo of some of the Scandinavians, in the Scandinavian Corps, with their founder, Christer Uggla.
Service in the 1st South African Regiment
At the moment there is not so much information about rosters or other military service documents to find online about the soldiers who served in the South African units in the Great War. I have now emailed the South African National Archive and I hope they will be able to provide me with more information about the service of Richard Emanuel Nydahl.
Richard served in the 1st Battalion in the 1st South African Regiment, when he died from Influenza on October the 18th, 1918. I will try to find more information about when he joined the British Expeditionary Forces and where he served before he died.
He is today buried at the CWGC Brookwood Military Cemetery, just west of the Brookwood American Cemetery. You can read more about the Swedes in the American Cemetery in my previous article.
In the beginning his name was spelled with an M, Mydahl, but it was later changed to Nydahl, as shown on the photos to the right. Richard died at an age of 38.
It will be interesting to see if I can find more information about other Swedes who fought in South African units. May Richard Emanuel Nydahl rest in peace.