TOPIC:

I have come into my possession a letter written at Springfontein 7th July 1901. Sadly the letter has little to go on in terms of names, even the letter has not been signed and does not have the soldiers unit or rank.

He writes about a Court Martial taken place recently, so I assume it took place in June or start of July. How many Court Martial's would have taken place during that time, possibly at Springfontein itself, not many I would have thought, possibly even just this one?

He writes: "We had one of our fellows tried by Court Martial the other day, he was charged for cowardice in face of the enemy, and for leaving his men, being a Sergeant. He was reduced to Trooper and sentenced to 5 years Penal Service, but the latter was struck off, he being discharged the Service and to be sent home."

If I can find out who was Court Martialed I will be able to work out who the writer is.

Any help will be appreciated.

I was told once many years ago that all or 95 % of the records and transcripts of Courts Martials from before Crimea and up to and after WW1 were destroyed in the blitz during the fires that destroyed a lot of the WW1 service documentation..... I may be wrong and would love to be wrong if anyone can confirm I would appreciate it.....

Mike

I have not looked at any court martial data at TA but I will check this reference on my next visit.

Courts Martial records is something that Ancestry.co.uk index but can only be accessed via a Fold3 subscription.
Far from these records being destroyed, or very few occurring, 1 even, for Springfontein,Ancestry indexes 143 for Springfontein in 1901.

This is the link to Ancestry.co.uk index
www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/60...military_x=0-0-0_1-0

You will then need access to Fold 3 to go through them one by one.

Pete