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Everhard – as an afterthought I looked up what Wikipedia had to say about Sir William Forbes Gatacre (1843-1906) and this sentence is illuminating:

“His reputation, high after Omdurman, sank after Stormberg, and he returned to England and to his pre-war posting as General Officer Commanding Eastern District from June 1900 to December 1903.”

Thus I think you have misplaced the letter by 7,000 miles and the first two men I detailed above fit the bill and Gatacre was interested in their Long Service & Good Conduct Medals.

Regards, David.

David, thank you. This wouldn't have been an issue if the British were not in the unpleasant habit of naming their cities after South African towns... Anyway, so much for my effort to meddle with the medal men. Everhard

Ay there’s the rub (as somebody once wrote).

Rebecca Jones writing in the on-line Colchester (Essex) Gazette of May 2021 considered there were only 7 other places in the world named Colchester:

Colchester - Washington
Colchester - Virginia
Colchester - Vermont
Colchester - New York
Colchester - Illinois
Colchester – Connecticut
Colchester – Ontario

I don’t know whether we named ours after one of these rather than Colchester in South Africa, but there is a case they should all be called Camulodunum after Camulos, the Celtic god of war.

David

Pictures courtesy of Aubrey's

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (907 Pte. W. Saul, Suffolk Regt.);
KSA (2) (907 Pte. W. Saul, Suffolk Regt.).

QSA naming



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