TOPIC:

Albert Isaac Shead was a reservist with the 1st Royal Dragoons from 1896. He was called up in October 1899 and returned to his normal occupation as a London policeman on 18 January 1901. He was recalled on 23 February 1901 but released again on 29 March 1901.
I am trying to discover 1 where he served and with what part of the Dragoons
2 Oddly there is no record of the whereabouts of his wife and daughter on the 1901 census - could they have been in SA with him?
Can anyone help please?

Hello,
And a warm welcome to the forum.
I have looked at the records in Find My Past and 5042 Private A I Shead is listed in the 1st Royal Dragoons, sadly there are no service records.
In WO100/115 he is listed in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons.

Regards
Paul

Welcome to the Forum.....

He is listed on the Cavalry list as follows:

Shead, A., 5042, Private, 6th Dragoons, Cape Colony and Orange Free State

Mike

Good evening,
As a reservist in the Corps of Dragoons, it was quite the norm to be posted to another regiment with the Corps, I note with interest that he he also on the medal roll of the 1 Royal Dragoons WO100/234 page 58 for a Transvaal clasp, in addition, a note, "Not to be issued yet" and "Does not belong to 1st Royal Dragoons"
To answer your questions, both regiments operated on lines of communication and were brought in and used as stock groups in the great drives etc.
It would, in my opinion, be quite inconceivable for his wife and child to be anywhere other than at home in the City of London in 1901, after consulting P93MRY1, the nearest I can get is the end of 1898 and an address of 8 Peabody Building Glass House Street in Whitechapel.
Nothing really unusual going on here, many members of the Met rejoined the colours to serve in South Africa.
Kind regards Frank

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

There is some information on the 6th Dragoons which explains the part they played.

I also recall that the records of the Metropolitan Police are held by the National Archives so there may be more research available there.

I agree with Frank's comment about his wife and child. It is very unlikely that they were with him in South Africa. Perhaps they were lodged elsewhere are the time of the census?

Best wishes
David