Wilhelm Mauseth

Who was Wilhelm Mauseth?

Wilhelm Mauseth was a Norwegian speedskater.

He set a world record in 500 m in 1895 with the time 46.8. He was two time national all-round champion, in 1895 and 1896. Around the turn of the century he emigrated to South Africa and in he married Sarah Anne Beeming in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mauseth worked as a surveyor for George Pauling, the main contractor to Cecil Rhodes, who was at that time opening up and building a railway and telegraph system in Rhodesia.

He attested into the South African Orange River Scouts on the 7th April 1902 and was discharged on the 30th June 1902 when the regiment was disbanded

He later changed his name to William Alfred Manseth, and fought with distinction with the Nyasaland Rhodesia Mechanical Forces in the 1914-1918 Great War, he was promoted to Acting Major. He was "mentioned in dispatches" a couple of times and was awarded the MBE by the British government.

“Manseth, T.Capt. William Alfred, S.A.S.C. was made a Member of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on Tuesday 3rd June 1919 as Published in the Tenth Supplement to The London Gazette of Friday 30th May 1919”