TOPIC:

- Rory, I wonder if you can advise where I can see the note about the return of the Medal to the mint . Also can you please advise enlistment details if possible - Location etc , Regards, Alexander Ireland on behalf of Dorothy Crawford

Hello Alex

By way of answering your queries, I attach excerpts from 2 documents:

The first is the D.L.I. nominal roll which shows that Joseph Crawford enlisted with the DLI on 1 December 1899. He was thus not in at the beginning of the war and was not involved in either the Relief or Defence of Ladysmith. Don't be fooled by the date 31 May 1902 on the roll, the DLI were recalled to Durban and demobbed in about June 1900. Several, including Crawford, volunteered for additional service with the NVAC who continued on until the Boers were expelled from Natal.



The second is the extract from the QSA medal roll - you will note the "Rtd" annotation in the margin - this denotes a return to Woolwich or the Mint. In his case the date 16/2/1914 appears - the authorities would have tried to track him down, eventually giving it up as a bad job and returning the medal as unclaimed.



I hope this helps

Regards

Rory

Rory, Thanks again for all your help. Regards, Alex

Rory, Thanks again for all your help. We are nearly there with closure on Dorothy's Grandfather's participation in the Anglo Boer War.The last piece of the jigsaw centres on the question of how did he manage to enlist in a South African Regiment on 1/12/1899 from Scotland . Would this be possible or would he have physically needed to be in Durban on his enlistment date of 1/12/1899 in order to enlist in Durban Light Infantry. We have tried searching at this end but no luck - Any suggestions or help is much appreciated, PS- By a sheer coincidence Dorothy's Daughter was married in Durban Fort Church in 1980 without any knowledge of her great grandfather Joseph, Regards, Alex for Dorothy