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From the Nile Campaign to WWI with the Boer War in between - F. Miles - by: Rory

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Frederick Miles

Private, 20th Hussars – The Nile Campaign
Sergeant, Kitchener’s Horse - Anglo Boer War
Private, 1st South Africa Infantry – WWI


- Egypt Medal with The Nile 1884 – 85 clasp to 2391 Pte. F. Miles, 20th Husrs.
- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal to 9753 Serjt. F. Miles, Kitchener’s Horse
- British War Medal to Pte. F. Miles, 1st S.A.I.
- Khedives Star 1884 – 1886 punched on the reverse to 20H, 2391


Fred Miles was born in Islington, Middlesex in 1867 the son of Police Officer James Miles and his wife Eliza. According to the 1871 England census the family lived at 40 Ellington Street, St Clement, Islington. Aside from a 4 year old Fred, other children in the house were James (14), John (12), Charles (10), Henry (7) and younger brother William (1). Mrs Miles must have felt hopelessly outnumbered being the only one of the fairer sex among all the boys.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1881 England census, the family had moved to 72 Pooles Park in Islington. Fred was now a strapping lad of 14. His 51 year old father was now a Watchman by occupation and of most of the children there was no sign. Charles and William were the only ones at home, with visitors Augusta Mayell, Ellen Bennett and Ann Hayzell filling the void.

Four years later, at the age of 18 and 9 months, Miles completed the Attestation papers for Short Service with the Colours at Hounslow on 15 July 1884. A Letter Carrier (Postman) by occupation he claimed to have been a Militia member of the 5th Royal Fusiliers. Five days later he attested for service with the 20th Hussars at Ballincollig in County Cork, Ireland and was assigned the rank of Private with no. 2391.

Physically he was 5 feet 7 inches in height, weighed 125 pounds and had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. By way of distinctive marks about his person he had Indian ink dots on his left forearm and an Acatrix (scar) on the inside of his right thigh.

Miles had almost a year to wait before he was to be near any action – when it came it was to help try and rescue and extract Major-General Charles George Gordon, under siege at Khartoum in the Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from that territory after Britain decided to abandon the country in the face of a rebellion led by self-proclaimed Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed.

On the 2nd June 1885 the headquarters and one squadron of the 20th Hussars, comprising six officers and 129 non-commissioned officers and men, who were stationed at Aldershot, left by special train for Portsmouth where they embarked in the “Oregon” for Alexandria. The men were played to the station by the bands of the cavalry brigade. A large crown witnessed there departure. The 20th Hussars were to relieve the 19th Hussars who were returning to England.

The attempted relief was unsuccessful & the Mahdi’s forces took the city and proceeded to massacre almost all of the British subjects therein including General Gordon. The Mahdi remained undefeated which meant that the Nile campaign continued into 1885, operating out of the port city of Suakin.

The expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley was split into two main sub divisions, the River Column and the Desert Column. The latter column was made up of camel mounted troops which were divided into 3 regiments made up from detachments from various units. The Light Camel Regiment consisted of men from the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 20th and 21st Hussars. The 20th supplied 2 officers and 43 men but they and the other hussar detachments were disappointed when they were informed that they had to remain at Korti to guard the supplies. Thus the Light Camel Regiment took no part in the desert crossing and the battle at Abu Klea.

Having concentrated at Cairo, the 20th Hussars moved up the Nile to Wadi Halfa to join General Sir Frederick Stephenson's Frontier Field Force of British and Egyptian troops. The Dervishes, led by the Mahdi's successor, Khalifa Abdullahi ibn Muhammad, were preparing for an invasion of Egypt so in December the Field Force marched out to do battle. The confrontation occurred at Ginnis on 30 December 1885 – this was the last time troops fought in red uniforms, although this only applied to some of the units. The main fighting was carried out by the infantry in the streets of the town and in the Dervish camp but when the enemy retreated to the Atab Defile the cavalry under Colonel Benjamin Blake, CO of the 20th, attacked and pursued them. One detachment of 50 men and one officer chased them for 50 miles upstream as far as Absarat. The 20th were dressed in khaki for this battle.

We know from Miles’ medical records that he was at Abbassiyah, a section of Cairo, on 14 June 1885 where he spent 8 days in hospital with Diarrhoea. No doubt as a result of the change of diet. He was back in Abbassiyah on 5 February 1887 where he was, once more, hospitalised. This time with Fever which had him bed-ridden for 9 days. Almost immediately this was followed by a stay of 49 days with an Ulcer.

Miles continued on in the Sudan until, on 18 November 1887, he and his comrades returned to England. He had endured the dust, sand and intense heat of the desert for 2 years and 170 days.

For his efforts he was awarded the Egypt Medal with The Nile clasp and the Khedives Bronze Star with dates 1884-1886.

Once more on home soil he settled down to barrack life. This was not without incident, on 24 December 1887 he was Absent without Leave for a period of 6 days, re-joining on 30 December. As punishment he forfeited his Good Conduct Pay. On 28 October 1888 he fractured the point of his elbow whilst on duty. This led to a lengthy period of hospitalisation - 88 days in total. The record indicates that he “Fell from his horse on duty. Broken again in hospital from a fall, severe. Made a good recovery with a useful arm nearly straight with splinter and strapping.”

On 15 July 1891 he was transferred to the Army Reserve and finally discharged at Canterbury as a Private on 14 July 1896 at the age of 29. There had been time for romance as well – in 1894 he wed Alice Anne Moore in Orsett, Essex.

Out of uniform and a man now free of any military obligations, Miles probably scouted around for something with which to occupy himself. Late Victorian England was a place where the flame of Empire was burning strongly. Many able men were seeking their fortunes in one or other of the Colonies that spanned the globe in every conceivable direction. Deciding that his future lay in South Africa he set sail for that country.

Arriving in Cape Town he secured for himself a position as a Police Constable – as if to prove that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Whilst resident in Church Street, Wynberg, his wife gave birth to a daughter, Eva Eliza, on 28 October 1899. The date is significant in that, 17 days earlier, the Anglo Boer War had erupted on the international stage. This conflict, a battle between the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the might of the British Empire, had no immediate impact on those in far-away Cape Town. The conflict was, after all, confined to the Transvaal, Natal and Northern Cape. This soon changed with the commencement of the guerrilla phase of the war where small, highly mobile Boer Commandos infiltrated deep into the Eastern and Southern Cape in search of supplies and fresh recruits to their cause.

Miles, biding his time, enlisted for service with Kitchener’s Horse on 21 August 1900. His attestation papers recorded that his trade was that of Policeman and that he was 34 years old. Assigned no. 9753 he was attached to the Reserve Squadron with the rank of Sergeant. It must have been an eerie feeling to be back in uniform and the saddle after the passage of five years, even more so in a regiment named after Lord Kitchener, his Commander in Chief in the Nile Campaign.

Kitchener's Horse had played a very active role in the early engagements of the war but, by the time Miles joined, had crossed to the north of the Vaal River and was operating under Ridley, Hart, Clements, and other commanders in the district west of Johannesburg and Pretoria. 250 men of Kitchener's Horse from Kroonstad took part in the pursuit of De Wet on the south side of the Vaal and other operations under General C Knox in the Kroonstad district during September, October, and November 1900, and were present on 27th October when 2 guns were captured at Rensburg, and in the very successful action of Bothaville on 6th November when 6 guns, a pom-pom, a maxim, and 130 prisoners were taken.

Another portion of the corps was employed in the Eastern Transvaal, and frequently had odd casualties about Brugspruit in September and the first half of October. They took part in French's march from the Delagoa Railway to Heidelberg in October 1900,—a march which only a great leader could have brought off successfully, having regard to the strength of the enemy in the district at the time. The fighting was continuous and the strain on all most severe. A detachment which had remained in the Gatsrand and Krugersdorp district on the north side of the Vaal operated throughout September with Clements and Ridley, and had sharp fighting under General Hart on 23rd and 24th November 1900, when they lost 2 men killed. It is difficult to determine which section Miles fought with.

This portion of the regiment was with General Clements when he was attacked and met with disaster at Nooitgedacht in the Magaliesberg on 13th December 1900. A high hill commanding the camp, and which was garrisoned by 4 companies of the 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, was assaulted by the enemy in great force and was captured. Kitchener's Horse and the 2nd Battalion Mounted Infantry were on the west or left front of the camp; the enemy attacked upon this side in the most determined manner, and although some pickets were captured or wiped out entirely, the attack on the west was driven off, the enemy losing very heavily in his endeavour to push into the camp from that direction. When, however, it was seen that the high hill commanding the camp had been captured by the enemy, the General decided to retire.

With difficulty Clements got away his guns and most of his ammunition, but the camp was left standing and some stores were lost. The losses of Kitchener's Horse were severe: Lieutenant Skene and 8 men were killed, and Captain Stevenson and about 12 men wounded and about 40 taken prisoners. Some of the latter were wounded. The regiment, sadly reduced in numbers, operated in the second phase of the war chiefly in the Western Transvaal, and had a few casualties on various occasions.

Miles, after 296 days service took his discharge, time expired, at Cape Town on 12 June 1901. His Character was rated as Very Good and, having been paid £55. 8 shillings, he had money jingling in his pockets as he worked his way home. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal – indicating that he had seen service in all three territories.

Returning to civilian life, he moved up the coast of South Africa, settling in East London, a thriving little port in the Eastern Cape. It was whilst he was living here that the Great War broke out on 4 August 1914. Initially unperturbed by this event Miles, succumbing to the lure of adventure, donned a uniform for the third and last time. This was on 6 December 1915 when, at Potchefstroom, he attested for service with the 1st South African Infantry battalion, destined for the Western Front.

Confirming that he was 45 years of age (we know him to have been 48) his address was 2 Chambers Street, Quigney, East London. By occupation he was an Outdoor Customs Officer and had no dependent children at home. He also confirmed that he had spent 12 years with the 20th Hussars and 10 months with Kitchener’s Horse in the Boer War.

Physically he was now 5 feet 9 inches in height with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. Of the distinctive marks he previously had about his person there was no sign – possibly they had faded with time.

Having been passed Fit by the Doctor, Miles was assigned no. 7988 and the rank of Private. On 15 January 1916 he departed South Africa’s shores bound for England aboard the “Llanstephen Castle”. On arrival he was posted to “B” Company, Reserve Battalion. His war was to be an uninteresting one – due in large measure to failing health, he never made it to the Front but was anchored instead to the Convalescent Depot at Perham Downs. Mustered as the Regimental Shoe Maker (a strange deployment given his background),

Miles spent a considerable time in and out of hospital for what seemed to be a recurring severe Bronchial – Pneumonia complaint, commencing with his first admittance on 24 December 1916 and ending with his discharge on 20 March 1917.

On 5 April 1919 he disembarked at Cape Town ex H.M.T. “Orita” and was discharged at Maitland on 7 May of that year. His forwarding address was 12 Fitzgerald Street, Beach, East London. The Proceedings on Discharge form completed in respect of himself recorded a Military Character of Very Good and he was credited with 3 years and 153 days service, of which none were punctuated by actual active frontline service.

For his efforts Miles was awarded the British War Medal – his only WWI entitlement.

Back in East London he resumed employment with the Department of Customs and Excise as a Customs Officer, retiring in that role many years later. He passed away at his residence, 73 Moor Street, East London, on 11 June 1934 at the age of 68 years 9 months and was survived by his wife and two daughters, Ethel Minnie Myburgh and Eva Elizabeth (who never married). It would seem that he liked his tipple – cause of death being Cirrhosis of the Liver and Cardiac Failure.









Missng medals wanted please - by: Shoredits

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Searching for QSA and WW1 medals of family namely HM Milward and J L Heymann both of the Sherwood Forestors Derbyshire regiment

David Duncan - an Inspector on the N.G.R. - by: Rory

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David Low Duncan

Station Master and Natal Government Railway Employee – Anglo Boer War

- British South Africa Company Medal to Sgt. D.L. Duncan, A.T.
- Queens South Africa Medal to Inspector D. Duncan, Natal Government Railways


David Duncan was born in Cortachy, in the County of Forfarshire, Scotland in about 1867, the son of Thomas Duncan and his wife Jane. Cortachy was part of Cortachy and Clova and the family lived in the Braeminzion district.

David was to retain a very strong link with his Scottish roots right up until he breathed his last.



According to the 1871 Scotland census the family already showed signs of being a large one, not uncommon for Victorian times where large families were the order of the day, especially in a rural environment such as Cortachy where sons would be called upon to help tend the fields or the herd and daughters were put to work around the house at an early age. Not for them the enlightened idea of an advanced education, the rudimentaries were all that was required. In the homestead with 39 year old Tom and 35 year old Jane were sons John (14), James (11), Thomas (6) and David himself (4). Not to let the feminine side down there was also Helen (8), Jane Ann, a babe of 4 months and Tom’s mother Isabel (66).

Ten years later at the time of the 1881 Scotland census Tom had passed away leaving a widowed Jane, now 45, to raise the younger children with the help of Ellen (18). David was the last remaining boy in the house and was a strapping lad of 14. New additions to the family since the last census were in the form of Isabella (8) named after her grandmother, and Agnes (6). The little family were now living near South Road in Kirriemuir. Despite his tender age young David was already apprenticed to a local Chemist, showing perhaps an early bent towards matters of a medical nature.

In 1889 he decided to seek greener pastures and migrate to Natal in South Africa appearing next on our radar on Christmas Eve of that year. This was the day, in the residence of Mr. Ramage of Pietermaritzburg, that he wed Margaret Annie Bennett Bald a 25 year old lass originally from Scotland. David himself was 23 years of age and already in the employ of the Natal Government Railways where he was the Station Master at Waschbank, a small siding close to Dundee in Northern Natal and a centre of the coal mining industry which was then starting to gain prominence. That he was highly thought of by the authorities can be determined by the fact that he was already in a position of responsibility at a reasonably young age.

In 1895 he went to Mashonaland in the then Rhodesia as part of the medical staff attached to the Artillery Troop. Little is known about this tiny outfit but they were known to have been recruited in Natal primarily. Once the uprising there had been suppressed he returned to his wife and occupation with the N.G.R. He was awarded the B.S.A.C. medal for his contribution.

Some four years later the war clouds that had threatened to gather over the peaceful countryside exploded into the Anglo Boer War in October 1899. Boer was pitted against the British and colonists such as David, with very strong links to the “Old Country” threw their lot in with the Imperial forces. Natal was the very first “hot spot” and Duncan was to be no different. Already in the frontline (Waschbank was not very far from both Talana and Elandslaagte) he was initially with the Imperial Military Railways before transferring to the, for him, more familiar Natal Government Railways where, with the Railway Pioneer staff, he supervised the railway traffic working at the front.

For his efforts he was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal to Inspector D. RDuncan.

An old N.G.R. ledger in the Pietermaritzburg Archives reflects that Staff No. 1200 Duncan, D.L. was employed on a salary of £192 per annum. Given the fact that a Station Master was provided with a house and other accoutrements, this was quite a commanding salary and would have allowed him to secure the services of an Indian servant or two to assist with the household chores.

This he duly did and another interesting phase to his life unfolded when he was moved to Charlestown on the Transvaal/ Natal border as Station Master in 1903, not long after the Boer War ended. I say interesting because it is from here, on 7 October 1903 that his Indian servant, one Narayenem, wrote to the Protector of Indian Immigrants as follows,

“Respected Sir

I beg to inform you these few lines about me. That is I came to Mr D.L. Duncan’s house as a house worker the first day they gave me some bread I asked the Mistress my ration she gave me one cup full of rice and nothing with it when I asked her how can I eat the rice without anything with it she gave me some bread and tea. You know very well of the Indian’s food sir how can I work if they giving food like this and also I will have to work in the Sundays too they giving no money for the same if I won’t work any hard work my master giving such a terrible blows and sevier (sic) kicking’s I will have to work all day long except my tea time they leave me for my tea ten or fifteen minutes if I won’t come within that time the mistress taking me into the kitchen beeting (sic) with sticks and kicking’s I am only the boy that working here there is no any kafir boy or girl the mistress is very much ill treating me Sir. So you kindly sell me at anywhere than them if not I am going to hang myself and die as well as the coolies doing in the sugar mill Sir. Don’t think that I am writing lies upon my God these things are true if you would witness I have got numberless here. Anyhow you must try to sell me at anywhere than them if not sure I am going to die Sir.

I inform this before I am going to do the cruel thing as said above.

Hoping to get as far away and early reply.

I remain Sir Your most obedient

No. 97152 Narayanen

N.B. Please excuse me for the trouble which I gave you Sir”

The Protector, on receipt of this impassioned plea, wrote to the Deputy Protector as follows,

“The Indians letter is enclosed. Will you please go over to the Duncan’s place look into the matter, and report same to me. Mr Duncan’s address is 68 North Street, Durban or Charlestown.”

The Protector of Indian Immigrants stated on 17 October that, “I visited Mr Duncan’s on the 16th instant. Mr Duncan says he informed the Secretary of the Trust Board of his intention to move to Charlestown and take the Indian with him and has written down once since going to Charlestown.

I have arranged for Narayana to get contract rations according to his wishes –and have also arranged for him to get 2/- a month extra for overtime work for the present. His duties on Sunday are not heavy. Narayana has studied English at one of the Colleges in India and ran away from home having had a row with his people.

He now feels the change apparently.”

With this the matter seems to have subsided and the master, mistress and servant lived in an uneasy alliance. That was until Naraynan (different spellings of the name litter the correspondence) complained of being ill and made to work. This was the subject of his letter to the Protector in April the following year (1904),

“Respected Sir

I humbly beg to inform you these few lines about me that I am suffering from Chest-pain for two weeks I can’t able to carry any heavy burdens and also I can’t able to wash the clothes and the house. I asked the mistress a pass to go the hospital she said I am paying only to work not to go to the hospital and lie down in there she didn’t take care of my sick she want me only to work you know it that if a man will suffering from Chest-pain how can he work Sir. So I humbly request you to take me to the Doctor and examine me Sir. If you find that I have no sick in my body I will abide by your punishment. Sir I left all my parents and came away here. You are my father and mother here so I led you know this, then that is your will Sir.

I remain Sir, Your most obedient slave, Narayanen.

N.B. Hoping to get an early reply. Please excuse me for the trouble which I give you.”

Again the Deputy Protector was asked to enquire into the matter and he reported back thus on 20 April 1904:

“Protector, this man seems to be in usual health but I have asked Mr Duncan to get him seen by the Doctor. Mr Duncan also intends to exchange the man for some other on the railway if possible Naransamy is educated and can read and write English – He is of no use as a Domestic Servant. His duties are light.”

This seemed to put an end to the matter.

That Duncan was connected cannot be disputed. The legendary General Manager of the Natal Government Railways Sir David Hunter was, at the very least, a nodding acquaintance of his. An original letter which today hangs on the wall of an architects firm in Durban reveals that Hunter wrote to him from his residence, “Colinton” in Ridge Road, Durban on 16 March 1905 thanking him for “your nice little volume of Random Shots which I have perused with great interest” – this a reference to a poem written by Scottish great Robbie Burns, with whom Duncan and Hunter had an affinity.

After a long and interesting life David Duncan passed away at his residence “Duncannie” in North Shepstone, down the South Coast of Natal, on 14 November 1949 at the age of 82 years and 8 months. He was survived by his wife and children, Leighton Sturrock Duncan, Cecil David Duncan, Margaret Annie Smith Carr and Annie Eveline Duncan. His estate, at £4 325, was a large one for the period.








Morgan Edwards - suicide on 9.4.1904 - by: BereniceUK

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NEWBRIDGE SUICIDE.
Mr W. J. Everett (deputy coroner) held an inquiry at Newbridge on Tuesday into the death of Morgan Edwards, a labourer, 33 years of age, who committed suicide by hanging on Saturday evening last. Margaret E. Edwards, sister-in-law to deceased, said he had stayed with them since he came back from the front about two years ago. Deceased had not worked on the day of his death or the day preceding. He was very strange in his manner at times, and had threatened to do away with himself several times since he had returned home. Deceased had suffered from enteric in South Africa, and both witness and her husband had to keep a watch on him frequently to prevent him carrying out his threat. On the day of his death he was absent for about half an hour, and as he appeared ill when he returned witness requested him to go and lie down for a little sleep. Annie May Saunders described how she went up about 5.30 on Saturday evening, when she saw deceased undressing. At that time the handkerchief by which he hung himself was placed on the dressing-table near. Witness was requested to call deceased later, and then found deceased hanging from the bedstead. Deceased was cut down by his brother, and Dr. E. Thomas pronounced life to be extinct. The jury brought in a verdict that deceased committed suicide whilst temporarily insane.

The Cardiff Times, Saturday 16th April 1904

The Evening Express, 12.4.1904, reported that the residence was 18, Panteg Terrace, Newbridge, Monmouthshire, and also that Saunders saw a muffler on the dressing-table, and that that was what Edwards hung himself with.

He was possibly the Morgan Edwards whose birth was registered in Newport, second quarter of 1870, as the death was also registered in Newport.

Lt. C.F.BRACE, Colonial Special Service Officer, NSW Artillery. - by: LinneyI

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Forum members
Recently, and after a considerable collecting drought, IL was fortunate to become the current custodian of a most interesting trio named to a NSW officer who was selected for Special Service during the South African campaign.






The trio consists of -
(1) 1911 Coronation medal, engraved to "Capt. C.F.Brace, N.S.W.A."
(2) QSA medal, "F" rev., clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, engraved to "Lieut. C.F.Brace, N.S.W. Art."
(3) KSA medal, clasps SA 1901 and SA 1902, engraved as above.
Special Service officers during the South African campaign were a selected group of both British and Colonial officers who were to operate in both staff roles and in the field. The number must have been considerable; as a glance through the many pages of "Services of Boer War Officers" (Savannah publications) will show. Indeed, as can be seen on p.59 of Conan Doyle's "Great Boer War", months before the outbreak of hostilities, on 7/7/1899 it was reported in the press that a number of SSOs had been ordered to proceed to South Africa - noteworthy inclusions being Col. Baden Powell and Lt.Col. Plumer.
Doubtless as an adjunct to drawing upon British army resources, soon after the outbreak of hostilities, a War Office request was made to various Colonial Australian military establishments for a number of SSOs to serve and gain first-hand experience in South Africa. It can be imagined that competition to serve amongst members of the relatively small professional Colonial forces would have been intensive. The invaluable OZ-Boer database records forty such officers on Special Service. Murray's "Official Records" lists twenty one SSOs from NSW journeying to the front between October 1899 and February 1900.
Murray gives us some idea of the scope and intent of the SSO scheme by means of the following quotation -
"A certain number of officers were sent to the war, with the sanction of the Imperial War Office, not detailed to contingents, but independently, for the purpose of employment at the theatre of operations, as authorised by the Commander-in-Chief. Thus, either in staff employ or attached to columns in the field they would gain valuable experience in the many changes and chances which occur during active service. They would also be afforded opportunity to observe and sustain the vicissitudes and privations of warfare, and to note the value of initiative, and capability to act promptly upon any valuable resources in each and every emergency".
It is not supposed that the military establishments of Colonial Australia were the only respondents to the announced SSO scheme as outlined above. Canada, for example, had an establishment capable of raising quality units; although "Painting the Map Red" makes no mention of any Canadian SSOs. Similarly New Zealand provided excellent mounted troops for the campaign and could have been invited to contribute. And then there is always the probability that officers of the Indian Army were serving as SSOs. Unfortunately, details are lacking.
One of the successful NSW applicants for Special Service was Lieut. Charles Frederick Brace of the NSW Artillery. Born in 1858 in Ballarat, Victoria, he came to NSW in 1880. He travelled to England and upon his return in 1882, and passing a six months course at Sydney's Victoria Barracks depot, he received a commission in the Artillery. Following that, he participated in a course of coast defence at Sydney Harbour's South Head battery and, in addition, secured his certificate of proficiency in Infantry Drill, etc. He passed for Captain ("distinguished in artillery work") in 1897; a year after he gained his full Lieutenancy.
At that point, he was senior subaltern of No.4 Coy., NSW Garrison Division Artillery and in 1899 attended a six months' instruction course at both Middle Head establishment and Victoria Barracks; attached to No.2 Company, NSW GDA. Interestingly, at that point, his C.O. was a certain Major Murray - who, a decade later as Lt/Col. P.L.Murray, RAA (ret) - compiled the "Official Records of Australian Military contingents to the war in South Africa" for the Dept. of Defence in 1911.
It is probably too much to expect that Lt. Brace's application to become an SSO has survived; perhaps it lurks with other papers and reports known to have been submitted by him amid the piles of paperwork passed on to the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Nevertheless, Lt. C.F.Brace does appear to have been well suited for such an appointment - given both his artillery and infantry qualifications and extensive service.

Here is a contemporary view of Lt. Brace -

Doubtless with keen anticipation, Lt. Brace embarked from Sydney for Special Service on 17/1/1900 and arrived at Cape Town on 16/2/1900. Within two days, he was attached to 23rd Coy., RGA and on 6/3/1900 joined the Pom Pom depot at Stellenbosch as Staff Officer to Colonel Crampton, RA. As Col. Crampton was present on operations in the Transvaal in May and June of 1900 (including actions near Johannesburg, etc), it is perhaps reasonable to assume that Lt. Brace earned the "Johannesburg" clasp on his QSA medal under the Colonel's command. On 17/6/1900, Lt. Brace received command of "V" Section, Pom Poms and proceeded to Johannesburg. On 8/7/1900, after the occupation of Pretoria, he was placed in command of an armoured train operating between Pretoria and Kroonstad. Brace's entry in "Services of Officers" shows him acting as Railway Staff Officer in the Transvaal and ORC. In October of 1900, he was sent to reinforce Springs (a railway terminus 40 km east of Johannesburg), where he assumed command of the garrison.
On 10/1/1901, Lt. Brace returned to Pretoria for duty. However on 8th July of the same year he was invalided to England, presumably for treatment.- and his recovery took several months. It was not until February 1902 that Lt. Brace took charge of a shipment of horses from Fiume, Hungary, for Durban. Upon arrival he was appointed Commandant, Remount Depot at Springfontein, ORC, from15/5/02 until 31/7/1902.
Subsequent to his return from South Africa in 1903, 1st Lt. Brace is shown in the NSW Government index as serving with the NSW Regiment of the RAA. In June of 1905, Lt. Brace gave evidence before the Government Pay Royal Commission - which investigated alleged pay anomalies brought forward by members of the NSW 2nd Contingent during their journey to South Africa. After the Royal Commission, and prior to being placed on the retired list, he was promoted Captain - and is shown at that rank when he attended the Coronation of King George V in London in 1911. He was one of the very few officers of the Commonwealth of Australia to receive the 1911 Coronation medal.
During the opening months of the Great War, Capt. Brace (RL) did attempt to rekindle his military career; a reference being found in the Ballarat Star newspaper of 18/12/1915 to effect that a former "local boy" had been appointed Major in the RFA. As there is no entry for any "C.Brace" in the on-line AIF embarkation roll in the Australian National Archives, it is assumed he remained in the UK after attending the 1911 Coronation. Perhaps on business.
At that point, having exhausted local resources, further research in the UKNA was entrusted to the very capable hands of Kevin Asplin. Happily, Kevin managed to locate file WO339/20879; which resolved the question of Charles Frederick Brace's attempted later military career. It transpired that, by the time of the publication of the Ballarat Star' edition of 18/12/1915, Temporary Major Brace of the RFA had been found by Authority as being "old for his years" and to be "too unwieldy of figure" to be of any use as an Artillery Officer on service in the field. He was duly required to resign his commission and did so by letter of 19/4/1915. His resignation was submitted to the King on 6/5/1915. Brace's request to be given other employment on the General List was met with a curt "No, Thanks".
Doubtless, Captain Brace (RL) would have been disappointed - however, times and warfare had changed, and the conflict was clearly headed towards an unprecedented, industrial level conflagration. He must have realised his knowledge of artillery employment and tactics, dating as they did to 1902, was plainly out of date. Captain Brace, however, had no cause to harbour resentment. He had studied long and hard and had become a true professional soldier; indeed, being selected as an SSO put him amongst the cream of the Australian military crop of his era. In South Africa, he had creditably served both the Empire and the embryonic Commonwealth of Australia military establishment and - many years later, to his great credit, at a time of crisis, he had come forward again.
Akin to many Boer War veterans who had lived into the 1940's, Charles Frederick Brace had observed conflicts escalate from Colonial actions to Total War and seen and endured massive social and economic changes. So much had changed and would change further.
Thus, any post such as this must necessarily skim over much of a man's later life and times. It is, however, hoped that the memories of Charles Frederick Brace, Special Service Officer, New South Wales Artillery, included the artillery batteries around beautiful Sydney Harbour, the bustle and dust on the way to Pretoria, the watchful "puffing along" of armoured trains and perhaps the bark of his Pom Poms across the veldt.
He passed away on 111/2/1944 at age 85 years in the London borough of Wandsworth.
Thanks to all of those stalwarts of the Forum who persevered to this point.
IL.

Town Guard locations - by: djb

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I am currently undertaking some research into Town Guards to determine how many medals were issued to the different units.

As part of this, I am also mapping the locations of the TGs. I will post the maps as they develop.

KSA-296 Tpr.C.B Hearns-Natal Mounted Rifles - by: elandslaagte

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Looking for KSA to 296 Tpr. Charles Bertram Hearns, Natal Mounted Rifles

AG Redman-Natal 1906 Medal-re-unite group - by: elandslaagte

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Looking for Natal 1906 Medal to A.G. Redman-Natal District Mounted Rifles

Arthur Edward Williams, Thorneycroft's M.I. & Kitchener's F.S. - murdered, 1903 - by: BereniceUK

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This is the only report of the case I can find, not even anything on the outcome of the trial, or where Williams was interred. Pencoed is east of Bridgend, South Wales.
________________

TWO YEARS AFTER.

Pencoed Man's Murder.

AN ARREST IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The mystery of an affair that completely baffled the South African police two years ago is believed to be nearing solution.

In November, 1903, a young Welsh carpenter, named Arthur Edward Williams, the son of John Williams, formerly of Pencoed, and now of Cardiff, was journeying from Harrismith to Bethlehem, in the Orange River Colony, in company with another man. The two stayed together one night at a store in Harrismith, belonging to a Mr. Ellis. Williams left his portmanteau behind in the store, and the two men then went off. Two days later a man, who was identified as Williams's travelling companion went to the store and took the portmanteau away. Shortly afterwards the body of Williams was found by the roadside, and his companion had mysteriously disappeared. An inquest was held on the body, and in the absence of any evidence an open verdict was returned. The portmanteau was subsequently discovered by the police in a Harrismith boarding-house.

Williams was a man who had served with distinction in Thorneycroft's Horse and Kitchener's Fighting Scouts during the late war. He had been thirteen years at the Cape when the war broke out, and immediately volunteered for active service. The young fellow went right through the war untouched by disease or bullet, only to meet his end when peace was declared.

Williams had a brother, David, who was a reporter on a newspaper in Durban. David never gave up hope of solving the mystery, and spent all his spare time making inquiries. He received descriptions of a suspected man from Mr. Ellis, the storekeeper, and also from his assistant, an intelligent young Dutch lad on nineteen, and one or two other men who knew him. He also kept in communication with Chief Detective Colpitts, who was taking a warm interest in the case. In the course of his work in Durban, Natal, young Williams ran up against a man named William John Bartlett Tatum, whom he thought answered to the general description of the wanted man. Detective Colpitts also saw the man, and Williams brought over to Durban Ellis (the storekeeper), his Dutch assistant, and two men, Marriott and Poynton, for the purposes of identification. A warrant was obtained for his arrest, and on September 23 he was brought before Mr. B. Hodson, the magistrate, in the Second Criminal Magistrate's-court, Durban, Natal. It was stated that a warrant had been issued by the Bethlehem magistrate, extradition granted, and an escort was being sent to take the prisoner to Bethlehem, where he will be tried.

David Williams, in a letter to his father, after giving particulars of the search, adds: - "I have nothing more to say. I am weary, I think of nothing, dream of nothing, but skulls and detectives. My appetite is bad, and sleep, except a little characterised by the above, is next to impossible.

"Of course, I have spent most of the week with Colpitts, and was present at the making of Tatum's statement. When Colpitts asked him to turn round and see if he could recognise the skull behind (it had hitherto been kept out of his sight) he said he did not recognise it."

Evening Express, Tuesday 17th October 1905

Johannesburg gold fields - by: djb

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A section from a magnificent map, probably 2m across, showing the fold fields of the Witwatersrand.

The disabled volunteer, Brabant's Horse - by: BereniceUK

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"An interesting story of a New Zealand Volunteer for South Africa has come to us (says the "Daily News") from Somersetshire, where the Volunteer has family connections. When the call for Volunteers was made, he was employed in a New Zealand store, and applied for enrolment in the third contingent. He spent ten days in the Rough Riders' camp, passed the doctors' and the riding and shooting tests, was sworn in, and measured for a uniform. At nearly the last moment, however, a rejected applicant betrayed a secret disqualification - the Volunteer had a glass eye. The doctor could not, or would not, see that the eye was artificial, but on a direct question the truth was confessed, and the candidate was rejected. On the fifth contingent being formed, he again sought admission, but being recognised by the Colonel he was refused. He was determined, however, to go to the front, and with a companion worked his passage on the steamer Fernfield to East London. Here the two men, with twenty other New Zealanders who had gone over in the trooper in charge of houses, joined Brabant's Horse, and within a few days they were drilling at Bloemfontein, and soon after started for the front. The man with the glass eye has since been in a number of engagements, and has been down with pneumonia and pleurisy. For his gallantry in bringing in a wounded soldier, he has been promoted; and up to the present neither General Brabant nor any of his officers appear to have discovered that he has any disability for campaigning."

The Bath Chronicle, Thursday 31st January 1901

Netley Hospital...... - by: QSAMIKE

QSAs with clasp Elandslaagte - by: elandslaagte

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Hi All
I am a collector of Q.S.A medals . I have always had a passion to collect medals with the Elandslaagte clasp/s. Like most collectors when starting, you collect any QSA , as time goes you tend to identify an interest in one or two battles.

I grew up in the Talana and Elandslaagte area, hence my interest in the mentioned battles.
I am at a stage in my collecting that I have dedicated my collecting only to the QSA medals with the clasp/clasps to Elandslaagte and partly the Dundee Town Guard.

If any collector wishes to part with any Elandslaagte medal/s I would be willing to consider purchase/ or exchange.

Willing to consider exchanging Q.S.A-Mafeking Town Guard Medal [Mafeking Town Guard] for an Officers medal with clasp/clasp Elandslaagte. Other medals include wounded in action.
My particular interest is the Imperial Light Horse.
Regards
Elandslaagte

QSAs with clasp Defence of Kimberley - by: djb

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The Defence clasps add a certain something to the QSA so I thought they were long overdue for their own page on the forum.

Here's the first of the three, the Defence of Kimberley:

Pair to Pte J T Kelly, 1st LNLR:


My thanks to Baldwin for allowing this image to be reproduced.

Private John Thomas Kelly was born in October 1875 at Salford, Lancashire, and attested for service with the North Lancashire Regiment at Preston on the 24th
of October, 1893, having some previous experience with the 3rd North Lancashire Regiment (Militia) and having worked as a Collier. He served at Home, in India, and in South Africa during the Second Boer War, having taken part in the Defence of Kimberley. He was discharged from further service in October 1905, having completed 12 years with the colours.

DSO group to Maj H V Gorle, ASC:


My thanks to DNW for allowing this image to be reproduced.

Harry Vaughan Gorle was born at Poughill, Cornwall, in September 1868, the third son of Captain John Gorle, late of the 28th Regiment. Educated privately, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant, via the Militia, in September 1893, and joined the Army Service Corps in the following month.

Advanced to Captain in April 1898, Gorle witnessed active service in South Africa, initially as D.A.A.G. in the defence of Kimberley from October 1899 to February 1900, where he had charge of arrangements for all supplies and transport for the 5000-strong garrison. He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 6 May 1900 refers).

Subsequently employed in operations in the Orange River Colony from May until November 1900, and again in the period March to May 1902, he served in the interim in Cape Colony, gaining another “mention” (London Gazette 10 September 1901 refers), and the D.S.O., which latter insignia was presented to him by the Officer Commanding Troops at Kronstadt in September 1902.

Advanced to Major in February 1905, Gorle was placed on the Retired List in June 1908, but he was recalled in the Great War and witnessed further active service in the Macedonia theatre of war from August 1916 until June 1918, gaining another “mention” (London Gazette 11 June 1918 refers).

His son by his first marriage, Lieutenant Robert Vaughan Gorle, Royal Field Artillery, was awarded the V.C for great courage at Ledeghem in October 1918, when he fired his gun over open sights under direct machine-gun fire from a range of just 500 or 600 yards ‘ his disregard of personal safety and dash were a magnificent example to the wavering line’ (London Gazette 14 December 1918 refers).

Pretoria - by: djb

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This bird's eye view of Pretoria is from the Daily News on 6 Jun 1900:




Van Der Merwe, G M. Burger - by: djb

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2 duplicate names on the roll.

Forename/initials: Gert Marthinus. Served: Wakkerstroom.

Forename/initials: Gert Marthinus. Served: Wakkerstroom.

Van Der Linde, Jan Hendrik. Burger - by: djb

Swanepoel, H J. Burger - by: djb

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Two men with these initials:

Hendrik Jacobus. Served: Potchefstroom.

Hendrik Jozias. Served: Wakkerstroom.

Krause, Gabriel Jacobus. Burger - by: djb

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Served: Kroonstad. Received the Wound Ribbon (Lint voor Verwonding).

Joubert, Johannes Nicolaas Roedolph. Asst Veldkornet - by: djb

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