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Francis John Graham - by: sean graham

March 17, 2017, 1:31 am
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Hi,

This is my first time on the forum. I am an Australian living in Brighton, England. My Grandfather was Francis John Graham.
He was service number 22594. He was in the Irish Imperial Yeomanry. North Irish Horse, Belfast Company.
17th Battalion. 60th Company.
He was awarded QSA Medals Rolls. I do not know what they are awarded for. Would any one let me know please.

My father told me was awarded other medals but he did not tell me what they were for and they were stolen.

I am told i should make an appointment to go to Kew. To see special records of his service.
I have already been to Kew and got all the information above that you see. Should i make an appointment to go back to Kew to further my
investigation in to him to see if their is more on him as i just went to public records which any one could go to.
My father also told me that my Grandfather would of taken his own horse. I find that hard to believe. He is dead now so i cannot check that
Thanks Sean Graham
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Private M. Leeming, East Lancashire Regiment - by: BereniceUK

March 17, 2017, 2:30 pm
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'Red Roses On The Veldt' has this man being killed at Smaldeel, on 17th September 1900., but a contemporary issue of the Burnley Express newspaper, in reporting ELR deaths, has him dying of wounds at Cape Town.

Can anyone shed any light on this discrepancy? And where was he from in the UK? A local paper may give a clearer account of his death, and if he was from the north of England, I may be able to go check it out..
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Lockdale's Auction Today....... - by: QSAMIKE

March 18, 2017, 7:46 am
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Well finally lucky......

2 out of 5 and both RN.......

Mike
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Australian National Boer War Memorial...... - by: QSAMIKE

March 18, 2017, 6:38 pm
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Albert Wittstock of Brabant's Horse, Frontier L.H, Kalahari Horse and elsewhere! - by: Rory

March 20, 2017, 1:56 am
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Albert Christian Wittstock

Trooper, Brabant’s Horse
Private, “H” Squadron, Cape Colonial Forces
Trooper, Frontier Light Horse – Anglo Boer War
Private, Kalahari Horse
Private, 10th S.A.I.
Private, South African Medical Corps – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Cape Colony to 23 Tpr. A. Wittstock, Brabant’s Horse
- Kings South Africa Medal with clasps South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 806 Tpr. A.C. Wittstock, Frontier L.H.
- 1914/15 Star to Pte. A.C. Wittstock, Kalahari Horse
- British War Medal to Pte. A.C. Wittstock, 10th S.A.I.
- Victory Medal unnamed erased

Albert Christian Karl Wittstock (to give him his correct name) was born in Frankfort in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa on 3 March 1879. Also known to the world at large as “Carl” he was the son of Ludwig Wittstock and his wife Louise. As can be surmised from the family names they were of German origin. The family were of farming stock – working the land in the harsh conditions to be found in frontier country – and were necessarily numerous in number with siblings Caroline; Ludwig Carl; Friedrika Wilhelmina; Friedrich Martin; Gustav Friedrich and others to keep young Albert company.

Very little disturbed the idyllic pastoral tranquillity of this remote area but this was all set to change for Carl, his family and their neighbours. Trouble was brewing up north where the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal were set on a collision course with Imperial Britain. The causes of the impending trouble were many and not the subject of this work, suffice it to say that Oom Paul Kruger, the State President of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal) was adamant that the British should be taught a lesson for interfering in his tiny country’s domestic affairs and, after an ultimatum he had set expired on 11 October 1899, the various territories that made up South Africa were at war.

Initially there was no threat to those in the Eastern Cape – they were, after all, far from the action but this wasn’t destined to last and many Town Guards and other more regular units were called into being in order to counter possible Boer incursions. One such was Brabant’s Horse – raised in November 1899 with an authorised establishment of 600 there were two regiments – 1st and 2nd Brabant’s Horse. Wittstock was one of the first recruits completing his Attestation form for enlistment at Kei Road on 9 November 1899. Assigned no. 23 with the rank of Trooper he was one of the founder members of “A” Company of the 1st battalion.

Taking to the field in the Queenstown-Dordrecht district they were frequently referred to in appreciative terms and were especially noticed for their skill at drill and musketry which put them in fighting trim before many others. The regiment was very soon sent to hold various posts, and when General Gatacre went out to attack Stormberg, on the night of 9th December, 160 of Brabant's were intended to join the attacking force from Penhoek, but the telegram was not delivered and they never received word of it. The detachment under De Montmorency did arrive at Molteno on the afternoon of the 10th, and scouted back on the line of the British retreat.

On 22nd and 23rd December De Montmorency and his men had skirmishes near Dordrecht, in which they got the better of the enemy, who had the stronger force. About this time Captain De Montmorency raised his body of scouts, all picked men, who did some very fine work. On the 28th, with some of his own scouts and some of Brabant's Horse, he was out near Dordrecht, but little was to be seen of the enemy. On the 30th, however, there was quite a stiff little fight, in which a party of the Frontier Mounted Rifles was cut off and only rescued the following day. Captain Flanagan's company of Brabant's was said to have done very well. The corps did an immense amount of patrol work throughout January, and Captain Flanagan's company were the first troops in the Queenstown district to gain touch with the Vlth Division, then approaching the Stormberg country from Cape Town via Thebus.

Lord Roberts had in January announced the appointment of Brigadier General Brabant as Commander of the Colonial Division, which included the two regiments of this corps, and under that general they did excellent work in the clearing of the north-east of Cape Colony. On 19 February 1900, after three months service, Wittstock took his discharge only to join the Frontier Light Horse the very same day. Assigned no. 806 and the rank of Trooper he took to the field with them. Based in King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape the Frontier Light Horse’s area of service was No. 1 Division, Cape Colony.

There was no individual attestation forms to complete; there was in its stead a form where “We the undersigned severally agree to join the Frontier Light Horse on the following terms.”

These terms were for a period of 6 months (or less if not required); Trooper’s pay of 5 shillings per day and an allowance of 2/6 per day for those bringing their own horses and saddlery. Rations for man and horse were free. As a unit this corps, called at first District Mounted Rifles, were 3 squadrons strong, and were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel E O Hutchinson. They operated in the Cape Colony during the second phase of the war, and were in numerous little engagements and many pursuits, frequently suffering casualties, as in the Maraisburg district in August and September 1901, and at Wilgekloof in February 1902 and about Somerset East and Jamestown districts in March and April.

Wittstock took his leave of the F.L.H. on 31 May 1902 – the war was over on that day and he had pressing farming matters to attend to. For his efforts he was awarded both the Queens and Kings Medals. Home once more the normality of life returned once more. The world, for the most part, now entered a phase of relative calm. Like most things this peaceful bliss wasn’t destined to last forever.

On 4 August 1914 the world was at war on a hitherto unimagined scale. South Africa, so recently declared a Union of the four provinces and still licking the wound between Boer and Brit, came out on the side of the British Empire against the German aggressor. The first order of business was to invade the neighbouring territory of German South West Africa – the unit Wittstock joined, the Kalahari Horse, was raised specifically for that purpose and was placed under the command of General Berrange. The German South West campaign was an arduous one with many climatic challenges and vast expanses of desert to negotiate. Sand storms and flies were the order of the day and the retreating Germans poisoned the water wells and lifted the railway lines making the task harder still.

Having joined the Kalahari Horse as a Trooper Wittstock was assigned no. 731 and the Dutch rank of “Burgher”. He enlisted on 12 January 1915 and served right through until 8 June 1915 – a month before the German surrender there. Leaving Kuruman in the Northern Cape on 16 March Berrange was with his mounted column consisting of the 5th South African Mounted Rifles, the Kalahari Horse, Cullinan’s Horse and the Bechuanaland Rifles, with three guns and several machine guns.

Two weeks later, on 31 march, he crossed into South West Africa near Rietfontein. His men were enabled to keep marching by an elaborate system of advanced water points established ahead of the column by motor vehicles carrying the water in drums. As the force approached the border the Germans that had been occupying the former South African Police border post at Rietfontein abandoned it and retreated to the post at Schaapkolk on the German side. The guns were brought up and the walls of the German blockhouse shot down capturing the few survivors.

The Eastern Force (for such was Berrange’s column called) then marched on Hasur and then advanced to Kieriis West, where they found their way blocked by a fort, a strongly defended structure in a mountain pass. That too was stormed and the 300 Germans it housed put to flight. From there the Eastern Force linked up with Van Deventer’s Southern Force, a move that probably convinced the Germans to abandon the strongly fortified positions at Aus on the railway from Luderitz Bucht without a fight. From there the combined force went on to attack Kabus and overwhelm the 300-strong German Garrison there.

For his efforts Wittstock was awarded the 1914/15 Star to the Kalahari Horse – a hard to find regiment for a collector. But this didn’t signify the end of the war for him, having taken to the leadership style of Colonel Berrange he decided to follow that gentleman into the conflict in German East Africa.

After a short hiatus Wittstock completed the Attestation Papers for service with the 10th South African Infantry, 3rd S.A.I. Brigade at Potchefstroom on 8 January 1916. Confirming that he was now 35 years old he provided his wife, Alwina Louisa Wittstock as his next of kin. He was now blessed with three children all under the age of 18 showing just how productive he had been in between the Boer War and WWI. Having been passed as Fit by the Doctor he was assigned no. 8157 and the rank of Private. Drafted to the 10th regiment on 7 March 1916 he embarked aboard H.M.T. “Professor Woerman” two days later.

Once in German East Africa the first operations the unit took part in were the forcing of the passage of the Lumi River. From there they pushed on to Mbugwe, at the foot of the great escarpment, and there drove off an enemy force threatening the line of communication from the west. Here in this low-lying and flooded part of the country, they were marooned for several weeks during the rainy season. Cut off from the outside world supplies ran low but they were nevertheless ordered, despite being without supplies, to carry out the difficult task of scaling the sheer heights of Mbugwe which were being held by the enemy. The top was reached, with immense difficulty, shortly before dawn, when the enemy, finding his line of retreat threatened, hurriedly retired.

The next objective was Kondoa Irangi wither the column proceeded still without supplies and with the added complication that the dreaded malaria and black water fever had begun to take its toll on the men. The sick and wounded were left behind to be picked up later. Wittstock too succumbed to illness – on 29 September 1916 at Kadoma he was treated at the Field Ambulance before being transferred to Kilossa on 4 October 1916.

The regiment now formed part of the Central Force which at the end of June 1916 marched southwards for Dodoma, fighting its way through and constantly engaged with the enemy notably at the actions at Kideti and Tshunjo where they led the attack and took the brunt of the strong opposition encountered. The 10th then took full part in some heavy fighting at Kadoma on the way to Kidodi from whence they returned to Uleia at the end of October 1916. For Wittstock the war in the east was almost over. On 25 November 1916 he disembarked at Durban ex H.M.T. “Professor” and was granted recuperation leave from 12 December 1916 until 11 February 1917.

On 16 February at Congella (Durban) he was the subject of a Medical report on an Invalid wherein it was found that he had been suffering from Malaria contracted at Kilossa in July 1916. The Doctors reported that,

“He states that he got malaria in July 1916 at Kilossa and was in hospital for 20 days.

After July he had 5 attacks of Malaria treated at Uleia Hospital – 14 days, Kilossa Hospital 2 days. In December 1916 he was granted 2 months leave, since being on leave he has had Malaria twice.” On the back of this report he was discharged on 21 February 1917 – “Unfit for duty in East Africa.”

For Wittstock the temptation must have been there to call it a day and go back to the farm and his family but not for him the life of a shirker! On 20 April 1917 at Potchefstroom he completed the Attestation form for Voluntary Engagement for service in the South Africa Medical Corps. Now 37 ½ years of age he was described as having blue eyes, light brown hair, a fair complexion and being 5 feet 5 ½ inches in height. He had a mole on the back of his right thigh by way of distinguishing marks about his person. He was once again found to be Fit for service but, on this occasion, it was to be a short-lived affair. Having been assigned no. 1122 and the rank of Private with the S.A.M.C. he was rejected at Potchefstroom after only 10 days service on the grounds that he wasn’t old enough for S.A.M.C. “Union service” – the only explanation possible here was that there was a limit imposed where only those above a certain age were accepted. Armed with a Military Character reference of “Very God” he returned home.

For his efforts he was awarded the British War and Victory medals to go with his 1914/15 Star.

Having done his bit for King and Country Wittstock returned to his farming pursuits in Frankfort. He passed away at the age of 69 years 5 months at Grey’s Hospital in King William’s Town on 17 August 1948; survived by his wife and three children – Helena Auguste Mathilda De La Harpe, Alwina Therese Lingam and Gustav Carl Wittstock.

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A Very Interesting Pair on Ebay....... - by: QSAMIKE

March 20, 2017, 11:51 am
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Orpen's Light Horse Badge - by: RoyS

March 22, 2017, 1:14 pm
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Hi Gents,

I wanted to share my latest find which I believe to be to Orpen's Light Horse.

Thoughts, opinions and/or any other examples in members collections greatly appreciated.

Cheerio,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

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CLEANING - by: 2li0

March 23, 2017, 6:54 am
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Hi
I have a bronze medal as purchased by families of soldiers who died in the Boer War, but it is a little discolored is it wise to polish or clean if so what is best way to do so
cheers PHIL
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Marion Lloyd - by: BereniceUK

March 23, 2017, 11:33 am
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The casualty lists published on 18th December 1901, and printed in the following day's press, refer to "Nursing Sister Marion Lloyd, who is down with enteric and pneumonia."
I assume that she is -
Lloyd M A
Lady Superintendent
Demise: Died of disease 17 Dec 1901
Place: Pretoria
Source: In Memoriam by S Watt Army Nursing Service

Anyone know whereabouts she was from? I wondered if she might be remembered on a memorial plaque in a church somewhere.
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2nd EAST SURREY reg - by: reid

March 23, 2017, 7:31 pm
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Hello my name is mark I just thought I would share some things. of my great grand par and maybe get some more information about him.
I know this, he was in the 2nd east surrey REG. and went to south Africa but don't know dates or much else.
his name was PTE William Ernest Bridgman 6200. {on his ww1 medals Bridgeman has a E }
I have a photo of him and the rest of the men.
I was told the photo is of.
The east surrey regiment volunteer company Wimbledon, section for Africa. aprox date 1897 98.
And also all the names of the 20 odd men in it.
The 2nd image is of him must have been just before ww1 but his uniform is not of that period, and the image of the gentleman next to that photo we in the family don't no who this is. could be his farther or him younger.
I did read a section on this forum about the 2nd East Surrey reg. This how I came across this forum.
thank you mark I will try to post the images I have
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'Remarkable gift to a Border Volunteer' - by: BereniceUK

March 24, 2017, 8:26 am
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The comrades of Adam Irving Loughland, a Penrith man, who had been employed in the Windermere district, took part as a member of the 1st Active Service Co. of the Border Regiment in the relief of Wepener, and there was wounded in the nose. He went into hospital and was discharged subsequently as cured. Since his return home last February he has occasionally suffered from the effects of the wound, but it was not until a few days ago that the cause of the pain was definitely ascertained. Loughland then went to a local practitioner and the bullet was extracted. His comrades have since had it mounted on a gold medal, on which there is a suitable inscription, and have presented the medal to him.

(Lancashire Daily Post, 5th December 1901)

Adam Irving Loughland was born in 1877, and was living in the Kendal area in the 1911 census. He doesn't appear in the Cumberland & Westmorland Gazette's list of WW1 servicemen.
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Charge of murdering a native - Private Hunter, K.O.S.B. - by: BereniceUK

March 24, 2017, 8:39 am
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The "Berwick Journal" is informed that Private Hunter, of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, has been arrested at Bulawayo and committed for trial on a charge of murdering a Basuto native named Hendrik at Hillside Camp. Hunter is alleged to have shot the man dead in camp because he had been annoying him.

(Lancashire Daily Post, Friday 13th December 1901)

What became of Private Hunter?
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Major A. E. Wrottesley, Royal Engineers - by: BereniceUK

March 24, 2017, 9:48 am
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A memorial window, dedicated to him, is in St. Nicholas's Church, Codsall, Staffordshire.



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British soldiers who married South African Women - by: Kayhat

March 24, 2017, 12:21 pm
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I am trying to find out who my mother-in-law actually was. I know she claimed her father was a George Geddes Greenfield who was stationed in Bloemfontein during the 2nd Boer War. I have found a christening certificate for her listing George and one Anna Gertrude Maria as the parents. She was christened at St. Margaret's Anglican church in Bloemfontein. Does anybody have any idea where where I can search for records showing that George G Greenfield got married while he was stationed in Bloemfontein? I really would appreciate any help. Thanks, Kay Hattingh. Calgary Canada
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Photograph Medal Check..? - by: RoyS

March 25, 2017, 2:26 am
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Greetings All,

I'm not a medal collector per-se, so can't say I have an 'eye' for these, so was wondering if those with more experience could have a look at my vintage (KSLI) cabinet photo and comment on the two medals this chap is wearing?

I 'think' they are the QSA & KSA thus making him a ABW veteran but would like confirmation of this?

Cheerio,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

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10883 J A BARKHAM - by: 8thhussars

March 25, 2017, 4:59 am
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Hello
Looking for information on the above man please.
Regards David
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Shadbolt QSA - by: RoyS

March 25, 2017, 12:46 pm
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Greetings Gents,

I have been meaning to share my one and only example of a QSA (two clasps). As I have often mentioned I don't really see myself as a medal collectors, however due to being raised with almost no family history I found myself being drawn to collect medals to my family name of Shadbolt. I now have a few but this is the only ABW example.

27641 Sapper Frederick J. Shadbolt Royal Engineers.

In the unlikely event any member spots a medal for sale (any period) to a Shadbolt, I would be most grateful to hear from you.

Cheerio,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

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William Horsfall Battye - a Telephone Man in the Boer War - by: Rory

March 26, 2017, 4:09 am
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William Horsfall Battye

Sapper, Royal Engineers (2nd Telegraph Battalion) – Anglo Boer War
Corporal, 12th Infantry (Pretoria Regiment) – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 9556 Sapr. W.H. Battye, Tel. Bn. R.E.
- 1914/15 Star to Cpl. W.H Battye, 12th Infantry
- British War Medal to Cpl. W.H Battye, 12th Infantry
- Victory Medal to Cpl. W.H Battye, 12th Infantry

William Battye was born in Sheepridge, Huddersfield, Yorkshire in 1876 the son of John Battye, a Labourer, and his wife Ellen. At the time of the 1881 England census a 4 year old William was at home with his parents in Warren Road, Huddersfield. He was the oldest child of three with siblings Edith (2) and Harry (3 months) bringing up the rear.

Ten years later at the time of the 1891 England census the family had moved to Dean Wood Terrace in Golcar where Mr Battye was now employed as a Carter at the local Iron Foundry. His parents had been busy in the ten years since the last census with Fanny Elizabeth Battye (7) and Mary Maborn Battye (3) having joined the ranks. William was a 14 year old Woollen Picker with his brother Harry, only 10, working as a half-timer in a cotton mill. This would seem to indicate just how tough the times were for working class families in late Victorian England.

William was, however, made of sterner stuff and a passionate desire to better himself. If the Huddersfield Chronicle of Saturday, 15 April 1893 is to be believed; Battye was one of 17 youths to receive notice from Mr Pitman “that he has granted them his third grade shorthand certificate”. This was after attending Recreative Evening Classes at Crosland Moor.

In the latter half of 1897 he took the bold step of marrying Lizzie Craven at Huddersfield, Lizzie was a good 4 years older than him but this mattered not a jot to a man in love.

With the advent of the 1901 census the Boer War between the two Dutch speaking Republics in South Africa and the British Empire was well under way and had been raging since October 1899 with no sign of respite. The conventional part of the conflict had ended with the occupation of Bloemfontein and Pretoria – the capital cities of these two Republics – but this hadn’t led to the expected surrender of the Boer forces; on the contrary, they now stepped up their efforts in the form of a guerrilla phase where small highly mobile commandoes would snipe at isolated British columns and carry away with them as much plunder as they could.

The census referred to above saw a 24 year old William ensconced in his own home in Leymoor, Golcar along with his wife and, for good measure, his sister-in-law, Edith Craven, a Woollen Weaver. William had certainly progressed and was now a Telephone linesman by occupation.

Later that year, on 23 September 1901, he took the plunge and completed the Attestation Papers for Short Service (One Year with the Colours) at Halifax. Now 25 years and 3 months old he gave his occupation as Telephone Man. Physically he was described as being 5 feet 8 ½ inches in height with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair. His next of kin was provided as his wife of 23 Burns Road, Birchencliffe, Huddersfield.

Having been found Fit for the army he was assigned to the Royal Engineers with no. 9556 and the rank of Sapper. From there he was posted to the 2nd Telegraph Battalion – a natural fit given his line of work and it was off to South Africa for service departing on 20 October 1901. But what had he been up to whilst in the field? The movements of the Telegraph Battalions are not well documented but what is known is that at the turn of the century there were two divisions, of which the first was sent to South Africa. Ordinarily it was stationed at Aldershot, employed in purely military work, and constantly being exercised, while the other division was attached to the Postal Telegraph Service, and had charge of a large district in the South of England. This one, to which Battye belonged, was sent to South Africa later on as we have learned.

Each section of a telegraph division was supplied with twenty miles of line, part of it being air-line and part insulated cable. A two-horse cart carried the latter, and there were three six-horse waggons for the air-line, besides other vehicles for supplies, technical equipment, and baggage. During the Boer War the Telegraph Battalion’s section laid 18,000 miles of telegraph and telephone cable. A total of 13,500,000 messages were handled in 4 years and the Battalion grew in strength from 600 to 2,500 men.

In times of war, a field company of engineers (197 officers and men) was added to every Division of infantry. A mounted detachment (116 officers and men) was added to every cavalry division. In addition, to every army corps, as Corps Engineers, was added a field company (197 officers and men), a pontoon company (200 officers and men), a staff and four sections of the telegraph battalion (226 officers and men), a field park (43 officers and men), a railway company (147 officers and men) and a balloon section (48 officers and men).

All told Battye was in the war for 337 days before being discharged at Bloemfontein on 22 September 1902. He had been in uniform for exactly one calendar year. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens medal for service in both the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State.

Having taken a liking to the country Battye elected to stay on sending for his wife who came out to live with him. It would seem that he sought and obtained employment with the Post Office, again a natural fit for him. All now went quiet on the world stage until that fateful day, 4 August 1914, when the world was once more plunged into war – on this occasion on a massive scale. The Great War as it was termed pitted Germany and her Allies against the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth. Battye with all his experience wasted no time in enlisting and on 19 August 1914 was taken on strength of “C” Company of the 12th Infantry (Pretoria Regiment). Assigned no. 5109 and the rank of Corporal he provided his next of kin as his wife now living at 4th Street, 7th Avenue, Wonderboom, Gezina, Pretoria.

The Pretoria Regiment were part of Military District No.9 and entered German South West Africa as part of the Central Force landing at Luderitzbucht and operating from there. On 14 June 1915 they became part of the Northern Force tasked with completing the rout of the German forces after the majority of troops and regiments had returned home to South Africa. Of the Pretoria Regiment men it was said,

“As they swung out across the open square that marks the northern most boundary of the town, it was difficult to think that these spare, hardbitten soldiers were volunteers whose ordinary avocations were those of the peaceful civilian. They looked and carried themselves like veteran regulars who had made campaigning the business of their lives.”

This look had come at a price to Battye – he was hospitalised at Luderitz on 21 February 1915 with Trachoma before being sent down to Wynberg where he was hospitalised from 25 February until being discharged on 17 March with poor Eye sight.
On 8 April 1915 his war was over and he was discharged to return home. His medals for services rendered were sent to him in 1922.

Battye continued on with the Post Office and eventually retired from their employ in East London in the Eastern Cape. He passed away at Frere Hospital in East London on 20 December 1950 at the age of 74 years and 6 months. His residence at the time was 80 Moore Street and he was survived by his wife and children – Nellie Lloyd, Kathleen Siebritz, Ethel Willmers and Ronald William Battye. He left an estate of £1 920.

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my introduction - and Anthony Walter Lister - by: Peter Lister

March 26, 2017, 3:21 pm
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Good day to you all,

I will admit straight up that I've joined this forum in the hope I can get some direction in learning more about my great-grandfather and his role in the SA war.

I have only looked briefly over this site, yet it's clear there is a wealth of expertise here. I did not know my g-grandfather as he died 25 years before I was born and none of my family know of his role in S Africa during the family's time there. I have done a little family history research some years ago, yet this is one area where I know little.

I have his QSA medal which is silver with a single uninscribed clasp. There are no dates present on the reverse and the hand of Britannia points to the F in AFRICA. In searching this site I found a reference for his name which matches the inscription on the edge of the medal. The inscription is as follows: GUARD A.W. LISTER CAPE G.R. I know he worked for the railways in Cape Colony - the family moved there from here in New South wales around 1894 and left for New Zealand in December 1905. His last child was born at Beaufort West in 1901, his eldest child married at Worcester in 1905, and he was a member of the Touws River Railway Brass Band. I have a photo of him taken shortly before he died wearing the medal.

The reference I found by searching on this site is for one, Lister, AW, Cape Government Railways, WO100/279. This looks like a National Archives UK reference - if so, is it likely to shed any light on my query ?

Some key questions I'd like to know;
1. he doesn't appear to have a regimental number (I assume they were issued) - does this mean he was a seconded civilian - maybe seconded from the railways as a railways guard ? as opposed to an enlisted man.
2. What sort of period would this medal date to - what period was he acting in this role ?
3. what was expected of him in his role as Guard ?

any advice or assistance would be sincerely appreciated,

Peter Lister
Sydney, Australia.
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Interesting 8 or 9 Bar QSA - by: QSAMIKE

March 26, 2017, 10:09 pm
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