TOPIC:

Hi,

I'm trying to track down any information on my Grandfather, Charles Lawson or maybe Charles Hall. He was adopted, so while he went with his adoptive family name of Lawson later in life, he might have used Hall in his earlier life. He fathered my Mum when he was in his 70s, and died a few years later, so although I'm only in my 40's, I had a Grandfather born around 1880!

Anyway, when he died, my Grandmother ended up having to pawn his medals and kept no record of his service number.

The only information I've got to go on is a newspaper article from The Clacton Graphic, Tuesday, September 11, 1951. Here's an excerpt:

With his indentures signed, he sallied forth, to find that there were too many qualified men already in the trade. He walked the London streets and knew a great deal of hunger until, one day, he decided to try a trade which in the days of the Boer war, was far from overcrowded - the trade of a soldier of the Queen.

He took considerably less time in the Royal Artillery learning to knock houses down than he had in civilian life learning to put them up, and soon he was one of Kiplingʼs “gentleman in khaki ordered south.”

FOUGHT THE BOERS
For several years he saw active service in South Africa, fought the Boers, took part in the 68 mile gallop through the pass and saw for the first time a certain young war correspondent, Mr. W. Spencer Churchill, who forty years later was to become architect of a victory in another and much greater war.

The Boer war over, Charlie Lawson soldiered on in India and then returned home to an England drifting unknowingly towards another war.

Mr. Lawson had hardly had time to take off his bush hat and put on his bowler, when the government decided a peaked cap suited him better and he was off to fight the Kaiser in France.

So I think he was in an artillery regiment, but does anyone know what the "68 mile gallop through the pass" refers to?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan,
The only "long gallop" that comes to mind would be French's Relief of Kimberley with the cavalry.
ATB
David

Hi. I am new to this site and found it when researching my grandfather who went to the Boer War, only months after he arrived in Perth, Australia in 1899. Although we have a photo of him in uniform we have found it difficult to pin anything down. There is a suspicion that he used the name Charles Lawson (his full name was Charles Lawson Dook) when he went to the Boer War. When he enrolled for WW1 he wrote on his enrollment papers that he served in the Boer War with the S.C. Horse. This was taken to mean the Scottish Horse. There is a Charles Lawson that served in the Boer War with the Scottish Horse. He was a "Trooper" and had a service number of 36992. I discovered this on a site called Forces War Records. I do not subscribe to the site so could not glean much more info. However I think I saw that medals were awarded to the trooper. I suspect this trooper may be the person you are looking for and not my grandfather. If you subscribe to the site you might find all your answers pretty quickly. I am pretty sure it covers all conflicts involving Britain. Good luck.

Lawson
"36992 L/Cpl. Lawson, C" of 1st SH served between 4/02 and 7/02 and was awarded the clasp "S.A.1902". Age 24, animal trainer, single, from Queensland. Conduct VG. No previous service. Info from the book "Southern Cross Scots". I don't know how this man could relate to the original query.
IL.

Trpr 36992 C Lawson Scottish Horse only served in 1902 earning the clasps Transvaal and South Africa 1902.

Thanks for all the replies, folks