TOPIC:

Smethwick wrote: Private 4927 of the 2nd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers appears to have been named Patrick Ford:
It looks a bit like Forde but the possible "e" is just a flourish of the pen. The second page has it plainly as "Ford". On the last page his mother is given as his NoK and she is named as Winifred and living in Oldham.

Yes! NFF has the wrong information - this time the service number. 4927 is found on medal rolls (initial 'L'), The Times list of POWs (initial 'R'), London Daily Chronicle (Jan 1900) casualty list for Spion Kop (initial 'P'!) - and now we have the WO97 papers for Patrick - the London Daily Chronicle is the only 100% correct contemporary source.

It seems Robert Ford(e) 4947 never got to South Africa or the Sudan in 1898 like 4927 Patrick Ford(e), even though their service numbers are just 20 places apart. Why?

I've seen that card before and ruled it out despite the 4947. The surname Ford was written both ways Ford/Forde in my family and at different dates. Robert was from Salford not Warrington and his mother was Ellen (no Winifred's at all). I'm guessing that a mistake was made with the 4947 being put against the wrong Ford(e).

Morning Shampers

May I ask where the service number 4947 comes from, did you know that before you started searching?

He has extant Militia papers showing transfer to Regular Army. The number 4947 fits the time scale.

Here is the top half of first page of the 12 August 1893 Militia attestation papers for a Robert Ford residing at 59 Granville Street, Salford - see Shampers original post:



As Pete (Volunteer) pointed out he transferred from the 3rd (Militia) Battalion to a Regular Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers - the operative date being 28 November 1894. Here is the top half of the third page of his Militia attestation papers which gives that information:

page of his Militia attestation papers which gives that information.

This headline appeared in the Western Daily Press of 7 July 1900:



Half way down the list of released prisoners are a large number of members of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers - they include Private R Ford.

On Find My Past - the source of all the info I have supplied - there is no paperwork for a 4947 of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers - so how, as Meurig asks, do we know he had a regimental number of 4947?

Smethwick wrote: Here is the top half of first page of the 12 August 1893 Militia attestation papers for a Robert Ford residing at 59 Granville Street, Salford - see Shampers original post:

As Pete (Volunteer) pointed out he transferred from the 3rd (Militia) Battalion to a Regular Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers - the operative date being 28 November 1894. Here is the top half of the third page of his Militia attestation papers which gives that information:

page of his Militia attestation papers which gives that information.

This headline appeared in the Western Daily Press of 7 July 1900:

Half way down the list of released prisoners are a large number of members of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers - they include Private R Ford.

On Find My Past - the source of all the info I have supplied - there is no paperwork for a 4947 of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers - so how, as Meurig asks, do we know he had a regimental number of 4947?

Hi. The only thing I had was this Ancestry info attached re MIA (I'd just always taken it as remains never found), along with the family story that he'd been killed in the Boer War. That story came from my grandma (his niece) to her 2 daughters (both late 80s now) then to me.