TOPIC:

Full Names: William McClean Clark McEwan
Date of birth: 24 Oct 1875
Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
School: Edinburgh Academy
Date of death: 4 April 1934

Anglo-Boer War: Trooper William McClean Clark McEwan
70th Company 18th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry
He was a Scotsman who stayed on in South Africa after the war had ended in 1902.
Today, more than ever, the fact that people like McEwan, Frew, and many others who
had fought against the Transvaal and Free State Republics stayed on, played rugby
and represented South Africa at international level.

Thank you very much. It just so happens that I got hold of his records this morning, and it supports your answer. Thanks again.
I have attached one section of his record. Written in "red ink" there is the word "Gcray"(I think). The word appears twice. Any idea on its meaning?
Take care

Dennis,

That is his reward for several years of very good conduct (GC).

Graded GC pay, firstly at 1 penny and then at 2 pennies.

The 45th Regiment was the first regiment to be garrisoned in Natal after it became a British Colony in 1843. The 45th remained in Natal for 16 years and many of its men took their discharge at Fort Napier in Maritzburg. Thereafter, there were Imperial regiments posted to Natal, mostly for 2 year spells, until 1914 when World War I started and changed the world forever.

During the 77 years that Imperial troops were garrisoned in Natal their presence, and the men they left behind, made Natal 'British', and until late in the 20th Century local 'Empire Loyalists' claimed to live in the 'Last Outpost of the British Empire'.

Brett

Kipling expressed things well in Chant Pagan, a poem I love. Here's the last stanza:

I will arise an' get 'ence -
I will trek South and make sure
If it's only my fancy or not
That the sunshine of England is pale,
And the breezes of England are stale,
An' there's something' gone small with the lot.
For I know of a sun an' a wind,
An' some plains and a mountain be'ind,
An' some graves by a barb-wire fence,
An' a Dutchman I've fought 'oo might give
Me a job were I ever inclined
To look in an' offsaddle an' live
Where there's neither a road nor a tree -
But only my Maker an' me,
An I think it will kill me or cure,
So I think I will go there an' see.