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Muldoon - Berenice appears to read the wrong papers. The Burnley Gazette of 2nd October 1901 reported your Grandfather was invalided home a fortnight earlier.

An interesting and graphic article - I trust he eventually received his back pay!

Regards, David (once upon a time of Smethwick)

Smethwick wrote: Muldoon - Berenice appears to read the wrong papers. The Burnley Gazette of 2nd October 1901 reported your Grandfather was invalided home a fortnight earlier.

An interesting and graphic article - I trust he eventually received his back pay!

Regards, David (once upon a time of Smethwick)

Well done, David, great find.

I don't have access to the Burnley Gazette online, I'd need to go to Burnley Library to check it out.

Fantastic. My questions answered - and more to be asked, naturally. Another address which I wasn’t aware of. My assumption that he was in 8th M.I from the beginning clearly wrong: I shall retrace his journey with the battalion on the march through 1900. Unlikely to have had a dull war in the Maxim gun section.
Leaving aside his grumpiness (an inherited characteristic) about pay, he seems to have been treated very well. One last question, perhaps not appropriate for this forum: would the fact that he had the same number in 1914 be strong enough evidence of continuous service, rather than being discharged and re-enlisting. There is evidence that he was serving between 1901 to 1914 but it is patchy. He was certainly fit enough to be in the thick of the action between August and November 1914, being commended for his “fine fighting spirit”.
Thanks again to everyone for your interest and help

3 PDF files attached of pages from 1924 Burnley newspapers in which the death of your grandfather receives a mention - one dated 28/11/1914 includes in left hand column his photo supplied by his parents. One dated 25/11/1914 appears to include a comprehensive account of the action and your Grandfather's name appears between the photos of Pte John Smith & L-Cpl Hargeaves. The third dated 12/12/1914 he is mentioned above photo of L-Cpl Beckett when his nickname of "Chicko" is used.

Dave;
Many thanks again for these. There are some minor inconsistencies which probably won’t get resolved:
His official DoD is 8th November, which tallies with an account written by an extremely articulate Private Edward Roe (Diary of an Old Contemptible, Pen and Sword, Ed Peter Downham) who was close at hand, and who remarked with a wisdom beyond his rank that night attacks almost always ended in confusion and failure.
Th more glaring problem is the statement that he was promoted Sergeant in SA. As we know, he was only twenty-two and was only 18 months in the field, and was recorded as a Private when wounded.
Lastly, where on earth does “Chick” or “Chicko” come from?. My father was Martin and known as “Jim” throughout his life, but this one escapes me!

Just a thought: I don’t know if anyone here has access to the Lancashire Infantry Museum in Fulwood Barracs. I believe there is an unpublished war diary of the East Lancs M.I. company which would be interesting to research.

Muldoon (not a million miles from Smethwick)

Muldoon80 wrote: I don’t know if anyone here has access to the Lancashire Infantry Museum in Fulwood Barracs. I believe there is an unpublished war diary of the East Lancs M.I. company which would be interesting to research.

I'll ask the Assistant Curator tomorrow. It may be that it would have to be looked into by the Research Service, which would cost £30. What specifically would you be looking for in the diary, Muldoon?