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Thanks Dave, that's really useful. I'll go on ancestry and have a look. Would he have been ground infantry or on horseback? He had been a carter in Liverpool when younger so he would have had some knowledge of horses but he had spent most of his time on ships out of Liverpool and around the world.

Richard
He was a Trooper in the 89th ( Montgomeryshire) Company Imperial Yeomanry. This unit was attached to the 9th ( Welsh) battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Your Great Grandfather would have been trained and equipped as a mounted infantry man.
With regard to him being medically unfit. This could refer to many reasons for his return home. Effects from diseases, accidents in the field all played a part in determining whether a soldier would be able to carry on their duties or would need to be returned home.

Dave...

Thanks Dave. He died of pneumonia in 1914 before the first World War but he may not have been fit anyway. He did become a member of the Legion of Frontiersmen in Manchester & spoke, inter alia, about the Boer War at their meetings. He wasn't part of the group who went to Belgium to fight before the British army did.
Thanks again,
Richard

Richard - Glad to see with the help of others you tracked your GGF down to the 89th Company IY.

Have you examined the 89th Company medal rolls? This one is confusing:



I presume the confusing comment refers to all the men on the page - on the other medal roll drawn up in Wales in November 1902 the same set of men are again listed out of order and on a separate page but the confusing comment is not included.

The 89th Company saw some action having 4 men killed in action - one on 18/08/1901 and two 5/09/1901, the fourth was on 08/02/1902 and after your GGF was back home.

Here is a casualty list for the two on 05/09/1901 - note also four of the 89th were wounded but based on his service records your GGF was not one of them.



Above appeared in the Manchester courier of 13 September 1901.

I found the info you gave regarding the 1901 Census intriguing and I managed to locate the page:



Scrolling through the associated pages the whole of the 89th Company were definitely not present. They mainly seem to have been members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Home Counties Reserve Regiment which I have never heard of before. Wikipedia has clarified matters for me:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Reserve_Regiments

If the copying had been more accurate it would have read School of Cookery.

Regards, David.

Thanks David. This is all fascinating. The records are more detailed than I thought they would be. I'm glad you explained the School of Cooke/ Cookery as I had been wondering. I'll have plenty to write up about William who really did have a very action packed life (including acting as the bugler to an Admiral of the Argentinian Navy - but thats another story.)