TOPIC:

My name is Terry McInerney. The above named James McInerney may be my Grand Uncle. My Grand Uncle was born on March 20th 1877. A James McInerney was approved to join the Royal Engineers on November 10th 1897 in Dublin Ireland. His number was 1367. He was 20 years while my grand uncle would have been 20 years and 7 months. The address is correct and the next of kin is given as Bridget. My paternal great grand mother was Bridget. The addresses given are not precise enough to put the issue beyond doubt. The trade or calling of James was that of Harness Master which would tie in with a person from an agricultural background. Any advise or information would be appreciated. James was awarded the South African "Queens'" Medal Clasps Driefontein. He died on May 31st 1900 of Euterie fever.

The SAFF Casualty list shows "1376 Spr. J.Mcinerney" of 9th Coy Royal Engineers dying of disease(probably enteric) at Bloemfontein on 31051900.
Not much but it might help.
IL.

Terry,

As he died during the War, there will be no service records for him. This is unfortunate as they would have included his biographical information that could have helped to answer your questions.

IL's information that he served in the 9th Company of the REs is helpful. The Regimental Museum might hold records of what this Company did in South Africa but I appreciate this is not the focus of your research.

His QSA is listed on WO100/156p27 for the clasps Paardeberg, Driefontein and Cape Colony.

I am not sure what other personal information will be available on James.

Kind regards
David

My sincere thanks for your reply. An explanation of the delay in saying thanks would be comical. I plan to visit the museum when it reopens next year.
Best Regards
Terry

Terry, his name appears on the British Memorial in Bloemfontein.

My own thoughts would be that if you are completely satisfied with McInerney's next of kin and address matches what you actually know to be factual, then on the balance of probability, you are likely to have found your man, certainly a most interesting soldier and a real character.
He was subsequently buried at the President Avenue cemetery Bloemfontein, he would have originally had a marked grave, sadly, a great many of the original metal crosses have been deliberately removed, although, his name does appear on a separate memorial there along with others.
It would be nice if his medal was extant within your own family and it us certainly worth asking around.

tmcinerney24@gmail.com wrote: My name is Terry McInerney. The above named James McInerney may be my Grand Uncle. My Grand Uncle was born on March 20th 1877. A James McInerney was approved to join the Royal Engineers on November 10th 1897 in Dublin Ireland. His number was 1367. He was 20 years while my grand uncle would have been 20 years and 7 months. The address is correct and the next of kin is given as Bridget. My paternal great grand mother was Bridget. The addresses given are not precise enough to put the issue beyond doubt. The trade or calling of James was that of Harness Master which would tie in with a person from an agricultural background. Any advise or information would be appreciated. James was awarded the South African "Queens'" Medal Clasps Driefontein. He died on May 31st 1900 of Euterie fever.