TOPIC:

Hi. My Grandad, George Henry Waterman was born 21/6/1878 and served in the Boer War/South African War. I had help to trace him to Driscols Scouts and found him on one of the rolls under 'U' right toward the end. I think I read his number correctly as 39692 and a date of 21/2/02 so maybe that was his discharge date or similar. I cannot seem to trace him further on this website . I was hoping to trace what regiment he would have been in. Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thank you.
Brian Waterman

Hello Brian,
When you say "I was hoping to trace what regiment he would have been in" I was a little confused, you have already said he was a member of Driscoll's Scouts?
This regiment was a fairly good SAMIF unit raised for general service in South Africa during the war and performed well, it had some real characters within it's rank and file.
If that is the case, the best thing to do would be a very careful search in WO126/40-43 at Kew, hopefully, his original papers will have survived.
Regards Frank Kelley

b.waterman@talktalk.net wrote: Hi. My Grandad, George Henry Waterman was born 21/6/1878 and served in the Boer War/South African War. I had help to trace him to Driscols Scouts and found him on one of the rolls under 'U' right toward the end. I think I read his number correctly as 39692 and a date of 21/2/02 so maybe that was his discharge date or similar. I cannot seem to trace him further on this website . I was hoping to trace what regiment he would have been in. Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thank you.
Brian Waterman

Welcome Brian,

He served as 37692 Trooper in Driscoll's Scouts. You can read about the unit here: angloboerwar.com/unit-information/south-...329-driscolls-scouts

He earned the clasps South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902 from the Supplementary Medal Roll (WO100/245p145) with a note saying he had previously served in Malcolm's Scouts as number 145. The QSA roll (WO100/245p112) sees his awarded clasps Orange Free State and Transvaal.

Kind regards
David

Hi Frank
Probably because I was RAF and don't fully understand the Regiment. I served for a few years on a special unit along with some army chaps from RA, REME, RE and another that I forget. I thought that, maybe, Driscoll's Scouts were a unit that drew people fom various places to form the scouts then, when no loger necessary, go back to home regiment. Much as my experience with 8 JSTU on government trials of S to A missiles (Thunderbird and Bloodhound) in the late 50's. It looks like they change numbers when they change units/regiments.
Thanks for the information and advice on other places to check.
Best regards
Brian

Hi David
Thanks for the reply and very helpful information. I now have to try to nail him down at Sandhurst where he was a Sgt either during or just after WW1.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks again.
Brian

It was certainly possible to be seconded or attached to the SAMIF whilst actually serving in the British Army, but, that tended to simply be for a small number of officers, some actually held a supernumerary SAMIF commission as well as their original one, this also covered the minor and so often, the annoying issue of brevet rank.
Generally speaking, the rank and file joined for six months or so before moving on, they came from across the empire and beyond, Driscoll's Scouts was raised in Aliwal North, very much a one horse dorp until the outbreak of war, but, a most important hub, on the 17th of March 1900 and was disbanded at Bloemfontein on the 4th of July 1902.

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b.waterman@talktalk.net wrote: Hi Frank
Probably because I was RAF and don't fully understand the Regiment. I served for a few years on a special unit along with some army chaps from RA, REME, RE and another that I forget. I thought that, maybe, Driscoll's Scouts were a unit that drew people fom various places to form the scouts then, when no loger necessary, go back to home regiment. Much as my experience with 8 JSTU on government trials of S to A missiles (Thunderbird and Bloodhound) in the late 50's. It looks like they change numbers when they change units/regiments.
Thanks for the information and advice on other places to check.
Best regards
Brian