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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1902, unofficial rivets between state and date clasps (6115 Pte. W. Brinkley. Rifle Brigade.)

William Henry Brinkley, a Carman from Marylebone, Middlesex, attested into the Rifle Brigade Militia on 11 November 1901 and served in South Africa during the Boer War from 21 December 1901 to 3 October 1902.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (3) Natal, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (9876 Pte. J. Riley. Rifle Brigade.)

John Riley served with the Composite Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in South Africa during the Boer War.

Noonan's say the lot is sold with copied medal roll extracts, with entitlement for the Natal clasp originally annotated ‘Yes’ before being crossed out; the Natal clasp was not awarded to men who had received any other clasp for action in the Natal, and so as a recipient of the Tugela Heights and Relief of Ladysmith clasps Riley would have been precluded from receiving the Natal clasp.

WO100/211p157

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (5) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek (7121. Pte. E. Cording. Rifle Bde.) engraved naming

Edmund Cording was born in Walbrock, London, on 5 October 1860, and attested originally for the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, underage, on 24 February 1877, claiming to be 19 years and 4 months. He served with the 4th Battalion in India, and was discharged on 23 June 1883, after 7 years and 42 days’ service. He re-enlisted in the 17th Lancers under the alias of Lewis Edmond Arundell on 23 August of that year, but deserted just four days later; captured, he was imprisoned by General Court Martial and forfeited all previous service. Re-enlisting under a different alias, that of Victor Alleyn Faust, in the Ordnance Store Corps on 20 June 1884, he served with them for a further 3 years and 29 days, before once again deserting, and then enlisted under his real named in the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, on 19 July 1887. This final enlistment was clearly more to his liking, for his conduct over the next twelve years, both at home and in India, was deemed to be very good. On 1 February 1899, under a general amnesty then in place, he confessed to his previous service and desertion from the Ordnance Staff Corps, and received a Queen’s pardon, with his previous service of 3 years and 29 days being credited to his service record.

Cording served with the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade, in South Africa during the Boer War from 27 October 1899 to 27 February 1901 (also entitled to a South Africa 1901 clasp), and subsequently served briefly in Malta in 1904. He was discharged on 16 November 1904, after 27 years and 264 days’ service, with his conduct being described as ‘exemplary’. He did not, however, receive a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

He died in Portsmouth in 1932.