TOPIC:

My Grandfather's name was Alfred Woods (1869 - 1935). He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

In 1914 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a driver with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. His military papers mention his previous military service as 11 months with the SA Light Horse. I had assumed for 20 years that the SA Light Horse stood for South Australian Light Horse.

This weekend someone found for me an application for a grant of land in Canada in 1909 as a Boer War Veteran. He made 2 applications a few weeks apart. The first application is more detailed than the second.

He states he served for 6 month in the South African Boer War from 3rd December 1901 to 15th June 1902 with the Colonial Light Horse.

Can anyone give me any pointers to try and find out more on his military service and if any records survive that show he was actually in South Africa in 1901/02.

Pictures......

Hi Ed

Welcome to the forum.

Edwoods100 wrote: He states he served for 6 month in the South African Boer War from 3rd December 1901 to 15th June 1902 with the Colonial Light Horse.

Can anyone give me any pointers to try and find out more on his military service and if any records survive that show he was actually in South Africa in 1901/02.

The info given on the form looks spot on.

The CLH was formed on 7 January 1901 as the second battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles (a Cape Town regiment). It was converted to light horse, and renamed 'Colonial Light Horse', on 1 October 1901, after Boer forces under Gen Jan Smuts had invaded Cape Colony. At that time, the unit was commanded by an Australian, Major Arthur Baker DSO. The CLH initially had three squadrons, and formed a fourth in December 1901.

The unit was disbanded on 30 June 1902. It was deployed in the western districts of Cape Colony, and saw quite a bit of action, the last one being on 3 June 1902, a few days after the war had officially ended.

As to surviving records : there may be some papers in the Western Cape Archives.

My Grandfather died when my Father was only 7 and no family stories survived saying he was in the Boer war. It was s surprise this weekend for someone to find a record of him sailing from Southampton, England to New York and then onto Canada in 1908 and then find the two land applications in 1909 showing he was a Boer War veteran. In Australia he was an opal and gold miner so he was probably in Cape Town hoping to make his fortune. In Canada he was also a gold miner. I have yet to find when he entered South Africa and when he left for England.

A very fine SAMIF regiment, surviving rank and file papers are in WO126/44 at Kew, interestingly, Woods medal and clasps appear to have been issued and he is very clearly shown on their roll in WO100/242 in respect of his service in the Anglo Boer War.

Edwoods100 wrote: My Grandfather's name was Alfred Woods (1869 - 1935). He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

In 1914 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a driver with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. His military papers mention his previous military service as 11 months with the SA Light Horse. I had assumed for 20 years that the SA Light Horse stood for South Australian Light Horse.

This weekend someone found for me an application for a grant of land in Canada in 1909 as a Boer War Veteran. He made 2 applications a few weeks apart. The first application is more detailed than the second.

He states he served for 6 month in the South African Boer War from 3rd December 1901 to 15th June 1902 with the Colonial Light Horse.

Can anyone give me any pointers to try and find out more on his military service and if any records survive that show he was actually in South Africa in 1901/02.

Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.
He earned the QSA with clasps Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902 as 1094 Private.

There is some information on the Colonial Light Horse here