TOPIC:

I have a QSA medal with a Defence of Mafeking clasp awarded to Corporal W Ferry of the Mafeking Town Guard (MTG). The medal roll for this award shows Ferry to be part of the Railway Division Staff in the MTG.

William Henry Ferry, his full name, was the father of Gerald Ferry who was Mayor of Cape Town from 1967-1969. I have a copy of William Ferry's Death Notice from the Cape Archives, and biographical information on William Ferry, including obituary notices which mention that he was the son of a railwayman.

With the medal when I acquired it was a note to the effect that "Ferry purportedly was a member of the Nordenfelt gun crew on the Armoured train and was the driver of Rhodes Funeral Train that left Cape Town April 1902". However, I have not been able to confirm these facts. Can anybody help in validating this information or suggest how I might go about this? Thanks in anticipation.

Hello Wyatt

According to the Mafeking Siege Register......

Ferry was the driver of the dynamite truck shunted out of Mafeking. He reported no Boers hurt when they exploded it......

From County Kildare Ireland.....

There was also a Miss M. W. Ferry in Mafeking who was classified as a Civilian Girl Nurse.....

Mike

Wyatt,

While not an answer to your question, I came across this excellent account of Rhodes funeral that I thought might be of interest to you.

It is a newspaper account transcribed by Ellen Stanton. www.genealogyworld.net/ellen/rhodes_e.htm

I am still trying to find the names of th train personnel.

Regards
David

David

Did you ever have any luck in finding the names of the train personnel?

Wyatt

I have a medal for an officer (Lt R Anderson) from the Lancs and Yorks Contingent who fought in the Natal War in 1906. The medal is confirmed on the roll but does anyone know if there are any service records/paper for this unit which would enable me to find out more about Lt Anderson?

Alice

Presumably this is not the reply you meant to send? It is a repeat of another question that I have posted on the site.

Wyatt