A slightly belated but big thanks to all on this forum who responded so helpfully to my query. The service papers Meurig kindly sent me showed that my grandfather had been in India for nearly 10 years after joining the RFA in 1900, so not in South Africa. Amazing that I have a grandfather who was in the army while Queen Victoria was still on the throne. I don't feel old enough!
As mentioned previously, my mother didn't get on with Henry, her father, who she said was a bully and drinker. Piecing together his life, however, gives me a different perspective on him, and maybe starts to explain a few things. His own upbringing was very hard, the oldest of four kids in a poor family and losing his mother when he was 12, 15 years in the army which I guess would have brutalised him a bit, then losing his own wife (my grandmother) when she was young leaving him with 8 kids to bring up alone, then dying in the London Blitz. He had a tough life. Maybe, most of us wouldn't have been much different with that life story.
As I spent some time in India myself back in the 1970's I'd now like to find out what he did there, where he was stationed etc. Not sure how I do that.
Regards, Andy
