TOPIC:

Rory
I had another look through the various IB rolls and no H.Noonan. Seeing that you mentioned your man was born in NSW, I had a look in the roll of the NSWB. Just in case. No such man. Now, I don't claim to be a professional researcher; or an expert on OZ stuff. I just look through books and rolls and follow my nose and sometimes get lucky. There would seem to be two possibilities here. The first I have already mentioned (Noonan possibly enlisted in an IB draft in SA). The second is that he was a seeker-of-his-fortune (nothing the matter with that!) and travelled to SA by himself or as an indulgence passenger.
In the Old Empire, men travelled far and wide from their homeland. In my own collection I have one example (Sayer) who travelled from Canada to enlist in the Corps of Cattle Rangers. Another example that just came to mind is Capt.Laing, DSO. He travelled to South America and elsewhere before ending up in the Natal Carbs, etc. Probably others would come to mind.
At one point, I did think that your man Noonan might have served WITH some of the Imperial Bushmen. However, the SALH attestation form does say "served in" - so that looks final.
Rory, sorry I could not come up with anything but possibilities. What are the "shooting medals" you mentioned? Are they OZ or South African?
Best regards
IL.

Thanks mate

I'm going to give a very summarised account of Noonan's movements which may shed light on the matter.

Born in 1878 to John Henry Noonan, an Irish immigrant to Australia the family lived in the Bondi area of Sydney in NSW with Noonan attending school in the vicinity. My suspicion is that he came out to South Africa on his own account having not made it into the ranks of the IBC (this is one of your speculations as well) and joined up with the SALH in July 1900 to participate in the war. He seems to have enjoyed his time here as he remained in the country. In February 1903 he was in Durban and recorded as a Hotel Manager when he married a widow, Margaret Lewis born Jackson.

At some point thereafter he relocated to the "Rand" where he joined the ranks of the Wits Rifles (10th Infantry) - it was whilst with them that he excelled at shooting from 1911 onwards until 1914 winning a number of shooting medals in the process. I append photos of these to answer your other question. With war coming in 1914 he was a Lt. with G & H Companies of the 10th Infantry in GSWA - his next of kin (oddly seeing as he was married) was provided as Mrs Noonan (his mother?) of Zulette, 24 Watkin St. Bondi, Sydney, NSW.

He served until the end of the GSWA campaign and then called it quits and went home (Johannesburg). He died in Durban at the age of 80 in 1959. His Estate File records his birth place as Cork, Ireland but mistakes like this made by those identifying the body are common where, as in Noonan's case, not much was known about the deceased.

Cheers for now.

Rory