TOPIC:

Hello Mike,
That is a very cavalier course to take, it is cheap for a reason, Meurig's caveat comes to the fore in my mind!

Having said that, is the number on the medal actually the same as that on the roll for Mcdonald? 13026, if it is, then you can see if the medal is correct i.e. as issued, by using your own numismatic knowledge.

That would just leave the matter of him being a casualty, in which case I would suspect that he might well have been, if Dr Mitchell had good reason to believe that he was, casualty returns are full of errors and omissions.
Regards Frank

QSAMIKE wrote: Good Afternoon Gentlemen.....

After much thought I have decided to purchase it..... It is cheaper than any others that I have seen up for sale lately and the seller has stated and will confirm in writing that if it is a dud he will take it back.....

Will post pictures and information as I find it....

Mike

OSAKSA wrote: Hi everybody

As I said it was a "tongue-in-cheek" question to Meurig. In addition to the 2 sources named, he is also commemorated as KiA on the ILI memorial at Spion Kop and he is also listed as KiA SpionKop on the handwritten burial register that I let Meurig have a copy of!
I have his QSA with the KSA as Agent in the FID.
All that can be said is that somebody, whose identity was firmly believed to be James Hirst, was buried as being KiA at Spion Kop and that somewhere could be a QSA to an ILI (or other unit) man who was not recorded as KiA.
Footnote on p91 of "Buller's Campaign" by E Blake Knox:

The point I want to make is that there is a minute chance that somewhere in all the contemporary sources that we as medal collectors accept as gospel could be an unintentional mistake!

Henk

Hello Henk

Nailed the problem again! This is precisely why I wrote my most recent OMRS article "What is research?" - which highlighted another example where a man was incorerctly listed as KiA.

Back to Mr Hirst - a name on a memorial doesn't equal a body in the ground. This is not the same as a grave to an individual. I don't know how the burial register was compiled but for chaotic Spion Kop perhaps there isn't a missing ILI soldier. Maybe they found Hirst's tunic amongst the dead and made an assumption?

Nonetheless all this is good intelligence which I am recording for future generations.

Regards
Meurig

Interesting thread. I must say I'd always used the 'Driefontein' clasp as a rule of thumb, given that it was for 10 March 1900 on the march with French. Not 100 percent I know.

And as Henk well knows Sannah's Post and Korn Spruit can show up in unusual guises in casualty rolls and official reports. Bloemfontein Waterworks being the outstanding example.

Justin

Hi everybody
I thought Justin would re-open the old "dispute" about the Bloemfontein Waterworks Casualty!
For the benefit of the other Forumites: I acquired the medal to Lt F Russell-Brown from Norman Collett some 25 years ago (at the time he mentioned it was only the second Sannaspos officers casualty he had seen)
My good friend Justin, in the pre-internet days, was extremely sceptical about my Sannaspos KiA claim : the "Last Post" only mentioned a 30 March action near the Bloemfontein Waterworks and the SAFF Casualty Roll stated "Died of Wounds, Bloemfontein 4 April. Wounded 31 March". In addition, the QSA sported no battle bars but CC and OFS (correct per QSA roll, signed 18 Aug 1901).
However, I think Justin has come to accept my claim, especially in view of the inscription on the headstone in the Bloemfontein Cemetery.

Henk

PS Justin
I sent you a PM some week or 2 ago : can you look at it plse?
H

Henk,

I remember the amusing and interesting discussion about the 'Bloemfontein Waterworks' at your house some 20 years ago. And yes, I do now accept that he was a Sannah's Post casualty!

I replied to the PM a week ago. You may have to access your PM inbox?

Justin

Hi Frank......

Yes the regimental number is 13026.....

He also has a 10th Hussars, 2970 Private C. Thomas, 10th Hussars, who was taken prisoner and released at Sannah's Post.....

Interesting all the different spellings of the name.....

Mike

Frank Kelley wrote: Hello Mike,
That is a very cavalier course to take, it is cheap for a reason, Meurig's caveat comes to the fore in my mind!

Having said that, is the number on the medal actually the same as that on the roll for Mcdonald? 13026, if it is, then you can see if the medal is correct i.e. as issued, by using your own numismatic knowledge.

That would just leave the matter of him being a casualty, in which case I would suspect that he might well have been, if Dr Mitchell had good reason to believe that he was, casualty returns are full of errors and omissions.
Regards Frank

QSAMIKE wrote: Good Afternoon Gentlemen.....

After much thought I have decided to purchase it..... It is cheaper than any others that I have seen up for sale lately and the seller has stated and will confirm in writing that if it is a dud he will take it back.....

Will post pictures and information as I find it....

Mike