TOPIC:

Believe I have bagged a rather rough rough rider.

The 4th were indeed the famous Rough Riders and their medals are usually named as such, so come on, spill the beans, who was this man?

Appears on the surface to be an interesting story.

1076 Pte William Harris
A Shearer from Omarau, New Zealand. Aged 29 and was 5' 10.
CC, TVL Rhod & 1901 clasps awarded. Medal only no clasps.
He was seriously ill on return from SA and had to be hospitalised onboard the Tagus.
Went on to serve in WW1 with Canterbury Mounted Rifles that saw action at Gallipoi.
He lived to age 80 and died in 1955 at Omarau.



More research required should be interesting.

Hello Stephen,
A good rare medal, those clasps, not so easy to find these days, but,verified on their main roll, as a member of A Squadron, in WO100/294 page 83 and the supplementary roll for his SA01 clasp in WO100/294 page 119, nice to see named Rough Rider's too.
Kind regards Frank

Hi Stephen,

Sorry to rain on your parade, but your source of information has got things mixed up. Your man did not serve in WW1.

It was 1115 Tpr William Harris, 10 Coy, 4th NZMR Contingent who served in WW1 as 7/59 Trooper, 8th (South Canterbury) Squadron, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, NZEF. His file is online and confirms.

Cheers
Phil

Thanks Phil,

I am quoting from Rough Riders at war by Richard Stowers 7th edition so I suggest you bring this mistake to Richards attention. Do you need Richards email?

Cheers
Stephen

NZMR wrote: Hi Stephen,

Sorry to rain on your parade, but your source of information has got things mixed up. Your man did not serve in WW1.

It was 1115 Tpr William Harris, 10 Coy, 4th NZMR Contingent who served in WW1 as 7/59 Trooper, 8th (South Canterbury) Squadron, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, NZEF. His file is online and confirms.

Cheers
Phil