TOPIC:

Dave - I am indebted to you for giving me some information about my grandfather's medals. Thank you so much. My grandfather died in 1959 and my mum sent the medals (of which my grandad was so proud), to her brother in Canada who held the same name. He died many years ago and
(I presume) my cousin now has them. Over the last 10 yrs or so I have been seriously writing up the family history and there are also gt grandchildren in our family in the
UK who are very interested in what their gt grandfather did during the Boer and WW1.
I did initially tentatively ask the Canadian cousin if the medals could come home to the UK (his only descendant is an adopted child) but he will not agree to this. In the event I then asked for photographs and a note of the medals. Sadly this has met with indifference in that he 'would try and find them if he had any spare time'. You can imagine my distress. So - thank you Dave - you're a Star.

Just done a search of Birmingham newspapers for “South African War Veterans’ Association”. It received 171 hits with the first in 1930 and the last in 1971 – see below. Quite a few referred to the Kidderminster Branch rather than the Birmingham Branch. some photos below which might include your GF - apologies about quality but beyond my control.





So, the founding secretary of the Birmingham Branch was a Mr George Carter. A 1944 article reports the secretary had become a Mr J H Jukes – again see below. The 1971 article, which is a bit tongue in cheek, goes on to quote the oldest (91) member of the London Branch who says he can’t see the point of having meetings any more as most of the members are too deaf to hear what is going on.



As the pics below show the Birmingham Branch regularly attended Remembrance Day Services and had an annual “pilgrimage” in late May to the Birmingham Boer War Memorial. Until the time of WW2 they held an annual ball and had other outings including a trip round the Birmingham Fire station and a visit to the panto.

November 1931


October 1936 - the home was called the Myrtle Carter Home and was financed out of the "Carter estate".


May 1938


February 1939

GOT HIM!!

Your Grandfather represented the Birmingham Branch of the South African War Veterans' Association at the Birmingham Pre-Coronation Civic Service of Dedication in Birmingham Cathedral. See main article on attached page from Birmingham Daily Post of 1st June 1953. The attendees are listed at the end and your Grandfather's name appears under "Ex-Service Organisations". It also shows why my original search for "Edward Fitton" did not work.

What an amazing amount of detail in one article.
I wonder if the paper or its successor thought of reprinting it for the Platinum Jubilee and how many descendants of those attendees would have learnt of, or been reminded of a small but significant part of their family history which was thereby recorded.

Thanks
Clive

A wonderful article about the SAWVA:

samilitaryhistory.org/vol072sd.html

Thank you so much - I've just gone over those photos with a magnifying glass but sadly I cannot
see my grandfather - although of course its difficult with the quality of those old photographs. But thank you for your interest. I just wish I knew more about Military history.
But there was an article written about him in the Birmingham Evening Despatch 5 April 1952.
The photocopy is fading so I've typed it up for future generations:

"When 74 yr old Mr Edward Fitton enlisted in the West Yorkshires in 1896 his pay was a shilling a day (5p) and threepence (1p approx) of that was deducted for messing fees.
Mr Fitton, Birmingham Secretary of the South African War Veterans' Assoc sailed for South Africa in 1900 with the Royal Engineers and joined the 8th Division.

'they called us the Starving Eighth in those days because many of the men were rationed to a cupful of flour and 2 biscuits a day. When the biscuit tin was empty there was a scramble for the crumbs. I had to cut strips off my puttees to patch my uniform. We lit our pipes and camp fires with a sun-glass because we had no matches.'

Mr Fitton was almost captured by the Boers near Arrowsmith when a British rearguard withdrew without warning him.

One of the souvenirs from the campaign is the signature of Kruger the Boer leader, given him by a prison governor. (I have no idea what happened to this)

When he returned from South Africa in 1904 he made a trip to New York and then joined the Post Office. But the 1914-1918 War saw him back in Khaki again. He served in the Signals through the war and was in the line during the famous battles aound Ypres.

Even during the last war Mr Fitton decided he was not too old to do his bit and served for a time in the Local Defence Volunteers. Most of his life he has been in uniform, his service with the Post
Office totalled 33 years. "

My Grandfather never talked much and I only learned all about this many years after he died in 1959.