TOPIC:

James - as I subscribe to FMP I have followed the link you provided above.

It leads to a transcription record which tells me John Bezer, 17 years 10 months old and born in Rotherhithe, attested for service in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment on 23rd February 1899 and was assigned the regimental number 561.

It also allows me to look at the three pages of original records and below is the last page which shows that he did join the RE in 1903 but he previously served in SA in the ABW from the dates given.



Regards, David (of Smethwick & Pembrokeshire)

Hello Smethwick,
Thank you for double checking it for me, everything seems to line up except for his age being off by a year, as he would've been 18 and 10 months. Is there any explainable reason for this? Or will I always have to think of his service in the Anglo-Boer War as a possibility rather than a certainty.

Thanks
James

Hi James,

I wouldn't be too concerned about it; I've seen it multiple times before.

So long as everything else lines-up, e.g. Next of Kin and location of birth then it should be ok.

Regards,
Sturgy

James - I agree with Sturgy - if I scrapped my 200 plus Smethwickians because their professed age at attestation did not tie up with other sources I would be talking about a lot less than 200 plus. Some of the incorrect ones are almost certainly mistakes but others are obviously lies as their true age would have meant contravention of the age limits in force and usually the lie was to add a year or two.

On 23rd September 1899 your GGGF was not attesting to join the army proper and service overseas. He was attesting to join the Militia which meant becoming a part time solider involved in home defence only. 17 years 10 months would not have qualified him to serve in the army proper so perhaps he knocked a year off to stop him being pressurised into joining the army proper. Actually looking at the second page of his paperwork he had nothing to worry about as he was not quite tall enough and needed to put on a few pounds to swell his chest measurement:



At some stage he would have had to re-attest to go overseas and serve in SA - all I can say he must have consumed a lot of beef tea at Militia training camps in the intervening 5 months!

Searching through the shipping records on this site I found:

London Times, 21 Feb 1900 (Wednesday), p10c Dateline Southampton Feb 20. The Cephalonia embarked the 3/Royal West Surrey Regiment, 19 officers, 524 men, and 5 horses, and the 4/Scottish Rifles, 25 officers, 575 men and 5 horses, drafts of the 2/Royal West Surrey Regiment, 100 men and of the 2/Scottish Rifles, 1 officer and 160 men, No. 8 General Hospital, 7 officers and 94 men.

If you want to see some photos of the Cephalonia follow this link:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/11-research/9...hips?start=102#81437

What the 3rd Battalion RWSR did in South Africa I have no definite idea as the unit information on this site regarding the RWSR only mentions the 2nd (Regular) Battalion. They actually went out quite early for a Militia Battalion but, as they all only received the Cape Colony clasp, they only saw action within the Cape Colony. Probably a mix of garrison work, escorting equipment convoys and manning blockhouses. They probably were spared the hideous task of burning farmsteads as I don't think the scorched earth policy was practiced in Cape Colony.

Regards, David.

In my humble opinion I believe that your Great Great Grandfather did serve in the Anglo Boer War with the 3rd Battalion. As Sturgy and Smethwick have already mentioned, age anomalies were very common when joining the Queens colours.


The 3rd Battalion
The Royal Surrey Militia were sent to South Africa as the 3rd Battalion, arriving in March 1900. It was employed in garrison and escort work in various parts of the Cape Colony. The Rifle Volunteer force also provided 4 battalions for the remaining years of the war. Interestingly your Great Great Grandfather was recorded as Invalided out of service in 1901. If your research matches the previous 1903 attestation then I am confident that there should be a Queens South Africa medal sitting along side his WW1 trio. I have enclosed your Great Great Grandfathers baptism records. He was born on April the 16th 1880 and his mother and father decided to baptise all their children on January the 16th 1884.



Note, your Great Great Grandfathers, father's profession. Carman.

Hello Sturgy, David, Dave,
Thank you all for the responses, this has been very helpful. I am very happy with how well talking on this forum worked, so if I ever have another question I will definitely come back.

Thanks again
James