TOPIC:

My longest survivor is 20557 Tpr. W.S. McGregor of the 3rd (Gloucestershire) Company Imperial Yeomanry. He was severely wounded at Moolman's Spruit 20 April 1902 and invalided to pension. He died in Canada 27 September 1975 aged 97. He was in receipt of an army invalidity pension for 73 years!

There are two by age that I can add but this is the longest service..... Mike

COLONEL HENRY GEORGE GANDY, DSO, OBE, R.E.

27 Nov 1879: Born at Barndale House, Alnwick, Northumberland, son of Captain Charles Gandy, 1st King's Dragoon Guards, and Mrs. Dorothy Jane Gandy

Educated at Seabank School, Alnmouth, and Sedbergh School, Yorkshire, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

14 Mar 1899: Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers.

25 July 1901: Promoted Lieutenant

1901 - 1902: Service in the South African War. Awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps [CAPE COLONY] [ORANGE FREE STATE] [TRANSVAAL][SOUTH AFRICA 1901][SOUTH AFRICA 1902].

1902 - 1904: Service in Africa. Awarded the Africa General Service Medal with clasps [SOMALILAND 1902-04] [JIDBALLI]. Served in the third and fourth expeditions against the Mad Mullah in East Africa (Abyssinia and Somaliland) with the Telegraph Detachment, Royal Engineers.

08 Jun 1906: Appointed Adjutant, Royal Engineer Volunteers.

14 Mar 1908: Promoted Captain.

01 Apr 1908: Titled changed to Adjutant, Royal Engineers Territorial Force.

1908: Fired in the Class I Competition of the Royal Engineers Rifle Association. Took 4th place with a score of 91/100. Was assigned at the time to the Northumbrian Division Royal Engineers.

13 Jan 1909: Vacated post of Adjutant, Royal Engineer Territorial Force.

21 Jan 1909: Employed with the Egyptian Army.

24 Jan 1909: Appointed Assistant Director of Telegraphs in the Sudan. Gandy held the post for less than two years. He was invalided on October 23rd, 1912, and never returned to the Sudan. During his brief tour of duty he was occupied chiefly in surveying under most trying conditions in unhealthy areas.

1910: In the spring of 1910 he reconnoitred up the Sobat River for a line to connect Taufikia with Nasir, close to the Abyssinian border.

1912: In the beginning of 1912 he surveyed up the pestilential Bahr el Ghazal from Tauifikia to Meshra er Req to determine the feasibility of connecting Tauifikia by telegraph with Meshra. This project was abandoned, however, when he reported that 40 miles of cable would be needed for the line.

He was remembered in the Sudan, not only as an engineer, but as an artist whose sketches and caricatures gave pleasure to many.

21 Feb 1913: Vacated the post of Assistant Director of Telegraphs.

28 Mar 1913: London Gazette announcement of the award of the Order of the Medjidieh, 4th Class.

1914: To France and Flanders with the Old Contemptibles.
Sep 1914: Mentioned in the Despatches of Field Marshal Sir John French (1). Slightly Wounded and Invalided to England.

25 Nov 1914: Joined the 107th Field Company, Royal Engineers with the 26th Division. The company was formed at St. Mary's Barracks in Chatham.
Jun 1915: Mentioned in Despatches.

23 Jun 1915: London Gazette announcement of the award of the Distinguished Service Order. DSO awarded for work with the 2nd Corp R.E. from Aug 1914 to Apr 1915.

12 Aug 1915: Promoted Major.

01 Jan 1916: Appointed Brigade Major and Secretary, School of Military Engineering, (S.M.E.), Telegraph and Signals Section, Chatham, Kent .

Jun 1918: Awarded the O.B.E.. 09 Oct 1918: Vacated post of Brigade Major and Secretary of the S.M.E.

For service in the Great War awarded the 1914 Star and bar, British War Medal, and Victory Medal with MID device.

23 Oct 1919: Appointed Assistant Military Attache to His Majesties Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dec 1920: Serving in Gibraltar.

22 Nov 1924: Promoted Lieutenant Colonel.

Jun 1926: Serving as Commander Royal Engineers in Ceylon.

1927: Still listed as serving under the Foreign Office.

Sep 1928: Serving in Colombo Ceylon. Lt. Col. Gandy played for the "Brewery Billiard Cup". The cup was presented by the Ceylon Brewers for annual competition between teams of five from the senior Messes in Colombo. Gandy's team won 4 of the 5 games played.

22 NOVEMBER 1928: Promoted Colonel - Gazette Issue 33442 published on the 27 November 1928. Page 9 of 124

1929: Address listed as Wester Hall, Humshaugh, Northumberland. Club: Junior Naval and Military. Serving as Deputy Chief Engineer, Southern Command.

18 may 1932: Retired pay. - Gazette Issue 33827 published on the 20 May 1932. Page 7 of 74

1938: Still living at same address in Northumberland.

Cannot find any service during WW2. (i.e. Home Guard)

Died: July 19th, 1950.

David,

Trooper McGregor is going to be difficult to better in this category as he must have been one of the last few to pass away?

When I first read the title, I thought you were asking which QSA has been the longest in people's collection whcih would be an interesting question.

djb wrote: David,

Trooper McGregor is going to be difficult to better in this category as he must have been one of the last few to pass away?

David - My research on the PIN 71 series has identified no fewer than 40 men who survived into the 1970s of which 8, including McGregor, lived until 1975 or later. The other 7 are:

Samuel Joseph Bosley 103rd (Warwickshire) Co. IY - 1975
David Haddrell 21st (Cheshire) Co. IY - 1975
Joseph Cairns Inniskillings - 1976
Frederick William Grigg Royal Fusiliers - 1976
Robert Henry Brough West Yorks - 1977
Charles Lock 6th Dragoon Guards - 1978
George Shepherd Jones 69th (Sussex) Co. IY - 1979

Bearing in mind that all the above men were invalided to pension there must have been a number of other veterans who live into the 1970s and even beyond. I recall seeing a TV programme in the early 1980s called (I think) Distant Drums about Boer War veterans who were still alive. I remember the youngest was a 99 year old who fought at Tweefontein on Christmas Day 1901 with the Imperial Yeomanry. The other 3 or 4 were over 100 years old including one who was in the RAMC.

Then there's the last survivor George Frederick Ives of the 1st (Wiltshire) Co. Imperial Yeomanry who died aged 111 in 1993.

David

An intriguing topic and an aspect I have never bothered to plot when documenting my collection. David H's figures relate, of course, to Imperial men whilst there could have been any number of Colonial's (difficult to determine) who may have lived into their early 100's.

There are perhaps a handful of my QSA recipients whose dates of death I haven't tracked down but, irregardless, I now need to backtrack and revisit all those whose details are known to me, to see what I can come up with. A formidable task!

Regards

Rory