TOPIC:

Hi, thanks for having me on the forum.
I have a fairly particular search as my mother's GF initially served in the DCA (Edward King, DoB:1876, attestation 3 Dec 1895, service no: 1378). I have read that the DCA did have elements serving in SA, and have seen ranks on the ship manifests, but I cannot seem to find any information on where he served, especially as his attestation document does not go on beyond initial entry date. Family story has it that he served in India (not that I can find any evidence of that) but in particular that he was at the relief of Mafeking. I understand that the militia Artillery companies were split up and attached to other regiments and I did read that it could have been the Rhodesian Field force, but again I have no evidence. Whilst there is a family view that he reached the rank of WO he later joined the ASC as a private in WW1, so doesn't make much sense to me as a serving soldier, but times were very different then.
I am keen to put together a replica set of medals (originals were stolen from my mother's great Aunt) and a testimonial to cover his military career. So, any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Nobby Clarke

Nobby Clarke
According to an on-line search, the Garrison Artillery Coys (such as the DCA) were seperated into the Royal Garrison Artillery batteries in 1899 and some members did see service in the Boer War. I very much doubt that ypur man carried over his number to his new posting. Whatever that was.
I think you need to carry out a search with one of the commercial sites and enter as much information about your mother's GF as you can. Hopefully, a likely unit's title might be there. Perhaps a Forum member may assist you in that. The site does get many enquiries such as yours and some can bear fruit.
On the strength of your statement that your mother's GF was "at the relief of Mafeking", I dug out the Kaplan roll for the QSA medal bearing the "Relief of Mafeking" clasp and searched the lists for M Battery, RHA and RArty 1 pdr Maxims (Pom Poms) for an "E. King". I found no entry to match. I did not check the R Canadian F A Battery roll; nor that of the Diamond Fields Artillery for obvious reasons. As an aside, I should say that many men in various units/batteries could say they were "in on" the Mafeking Relief in a peripheral (supporting) sense; just that they did not meet the RofM'clasp's strict criteria.
Good luck with your quest.
Regards
IL.

Thanks IL,
I did wonder if the conversion of the DCA to 3 companies of field artillery and 2 Position batteries would have created a change to the service number. Really useful info and i will do another search of the sites. I wonder if this would have created another attestation paper. I have looked through a lot of 'E. Kings' but i may need to look more broadly. It would be great to find out if there were any other QSA clasps.