TOPIC:

Thank you for permitting me to join this group.

My query relates to A Gausden of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. My 2nd cousin and I have been looking into his military and family backgrounds. He is potentially our ancestor but tracing his pre military history is proving difficult.

Our researches have identified that:
He enlisted in 1891 in Canterbury, Kent
His regiment no. is 3933
He is in receipt of a QSA and Clasp medal
He died on 5/3/1900 of enteric fever in Ladysmith

Kent is my home county but with only an initial 'A', no DoB or place of birth to go on we have reached an impasse.

Would the Regiment records show his date and place of birth?

Have any of your members researched or encountered him before?

There are other Gausdens listed on your website with equally tantalising initials only entries.

Thank you in anticipation.

Martin Gausden

Hello Martin and welcome to the forum.

Tracing casualties from imperial units in the Boer War can be difficult because their service documentation was routinely destroyed leaving little trace of their military service. I have checked and confirmed there are no papers that survive for him.

The only link I have found is the inclusion of his name in the memorial plaque in St Patrick's Cathedral, St Patrick's Close, Dublin, Ireland. There is a copy here (thank you Sturgy): angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-awar...agte?start=498#95429 This link is interesting because Private Hewer fought in the same engagements as A Gausden, receiving the same clasps on his QSA, and died of enteric.

There is a regimental history that may give his forename but I have not seen this book: www.naval-military-press.com/product/the...ons-in-1689-to-1908/

I am sorry not to be more help with A Gausden.

Best wishes
David

Hello Martin
Welcome to the forum.
I have had a good trawl of Ancestry regarding Private Gausden. Alas, no concrete evidence pertaining to his Christian name. I searched various A's but no matches. There are over 80 family trees attributed to Gausden. Maybe prudent to reach out to see if there is any connection. A search of the newspaper archives for the Kent area may prove fruitful. One of our learned forum members called "Smethwick" has a gift for tracking down newspaper entries, maybe he can help? As David has mentioned, soldiers records tended to be destroyed after their demise. I did check the 5th Lancers book mentioned, intestingly your man is recorded in my copy as 3933 Private A Gansden. This was probably transcribed in error. I searched for A Gansden just incase any military records were also misinterpreted. No luck unfortunately.
I will of course have another good look at the archives later
today to see if I have missed anything .

Best wishes

Dave.....


Entry taken from my copy of the Temple Willcox book

I wish to thank Dr Biggins, Sturgy and Dave F for your time and excellent advice with regard to my query.

'A Gausden' has been misspelt as GANSDEN, curiously my great grandfather, William John Gausden, of the Royal Sussex Regiment also had his name misspelt as Gansden in the Roll Call of the 1885 Nile expedition to rescue General Gordon at Khartoum!

My 2nd cousin has managed to confirm 'A's birth place as Eastbourne although his DoB still eludes us.

When I began my family research some 30 years ago 'A' was the very first military ancestor I found so I am pleased to have expanded my knowledge of this brave young man.

Thank you gentlemen.

Sincere regards

Martin

Hello Martin

Thank you for the reply and the additional Eastbourne clue.
I have had another trawl with the above information, unfortunately nothing to link a A Gausden to the 5th Lancers. However, with the inclusion of Eastbourne there are references to a Alec, Alexander, Arthur, Andrew, Alfred and Archibald Gausden. So, it seems your 2nd cousin is on the right track. A search of the Eastbourne newspaper archives may be beneficial. The misspelling of Gausden to Gansden is frustrating, however if you venture into the surname of Gosden you are entering another possible scenario. And yes, there are some Gosdens who did serve in the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. Alas, nothing to correlate with your man. I wish you well with the newspaper search. I hope there is something there to help you in your quest.

Best regards

Dave.....

PS. With reference to your Great Grandfather William John who served in Egypt, regimental number 506 Royal Sussex Regiment.
Did you know there was an A Gausden 1st Battalion Sussex Regiment, regimental number 200 who was also in Egypt? Perhaps another of your relatives with an A to investigate.