Charles Fredric Moseley, 6078, Royal Horse Artillery. DoB 18th August 1876.

I hope someone can help!? I have been trying to find out about my great grandfathers military career, especially his active service in the Boer war with the royal horse artillery. I think I have found him on page 169 of the QSA medal roll for R battery RHA on this web site however the service number isn’t shown and the hand writing is very difficult to read! I have tried to find details of his service at the national archives web site but I found it totally confusing. We have a picture of him on his return to England wearing both the QSA and the KSA but not sure where to find information on this either! Any help in clearing any of this up would be greatly appreciated by me and the family.

Also I don’t know if anyone would be interested in seeing a copy of his diary he wrote while there. It covers from his landing at Cape Town in November 1899 up to August 9th 1900. Has I have no idea about his service or not I don’t know if this is when he left for England or more of the diary has been lost over the years?

Cheers Andy.

Hi Andy, welcome aboard!

I've found three pages from the medal rolls that list him. Here are the details:
6078 Driver C.F.Moseley, Royal Battery, Royal Horse Artillery is listed on the QSA roll under Army Order 1 April 1901, WO 100/139, pg 168, Royal Battery, Royal Horse Artillery dated 20 June 1901, Bloemfontein as QSA with Paardeberg, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen, & Relief of Kimberley clasps. Then there is a document in WO 100/137 noting that he was issued one medal (QSA) and five clasps on 28-12-1901. And then Army Order 232, 1 October 1902, WO 100/306, pg 68 (undated) shows KSA with South Africa 1901 & 1902 clasps.

I had a look on Ancestry and Find My Past to see if I could see any service papers but nothing seemed to come up but it my be worth it to double check both these websites.

Diaries are always of great interest. I'm sure a great many members of the forum would be most appreciative of any extracts from the diary that you may want to share.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Andy,

One reason why there might not be service papers is if the person served in the Great War but a check of the Medal Index Cards failed to find him so it may be his papers have been lost/burnt.

I echo what Mark said about the diary. I am sure that any extracts you can share with us would be eagerly read. I don't know whether this would be an option but if you email me any information i can add it to the appropriate battery's page on the site.

Best wishes
David

Thanks Mark,

Much appreciated, just a quick question and I apologise if it’s obvious. You said that he was in the Royal Battery, is that what R Battery was short for? Or was I completely incorrect in thinking he was from R battery?

I have been unable to find any of his service records like you. Now I know all his information do you think if I got into contact with the gunnery museum in London they would have any information on him? I know he reenlisted at the outbreak of world war one but he joined the Royal Engineers as a post man. I have found his medal card but can get nothing else because as I understand it some of the records were destroyed in the Blitz. Would his records from his previous service have been put with from the Great War and that’s why they might have also been lost?

I know that’s quite a few questions sorry!!

Hello David,

Thanks for your help, as you can see from my reply to Mark I have found his medal card from the Great War. He had left the artillery and started at the GPO and then joined the Royal Engineers as a postman, with a new service number which had thrown me at the start!

I have added a copy of his diary so hope someone finds it interesting. The trouble is my mum typed it up from the originals which are obviously very old and very hard to read!! So hopefully name places and regiments are correct!! One of the things we can’t work out is “M.J.F 6 battalion”. Have we copied that wrong because it doesn’t seem like the initials of any of the regiments that I can see?

Also do you think that the gunnery museum in London would be interested in the originals for their records? I have emailed them but as to date I have had no reply.

Cheers Andy.

Andy,

You are correct that he served in R Battery, RHA. The RHA provided 10 such batteries to fight in the Boer War.

There is a very short account of R Battery on the site and a copy of the QSA medal roll where you can see CFM's name listed.

I would imagine the RA Museum would appreciate the donation of the diary.

Can you tell me where you added a copy to please?

Thank you
David