Genealogy Chat

are there any sites that list soldiers in this war?

or is there anyway i can find if a rellie signed up for this?

my Seward george Rabbitts disappears from 1891 -1908

cannot find him on the 1901

he marries for the first time in 1908 aged c 35yrs

bc 1873, leigh-on-mendip somerset

any help would be great

thanks

Bev

If you get any help Bev, could you let me know please, cos my grandad must have been in this conflict but doesnt appear again until his marriage in 1915! )))

Jac XX

lol jac

of course

i was put onto this by another member i would never have thought of this war!

Bev

There used to be a good site on Boer war by Kevin Asplin, but when I have just googled there is warning that the site might harm your computer!

Thats a shame because it was quite useful

Libby

yes libby

i am googling now

but not finding much

not even sure where these records could be kept, kew i spose?

Bev

Kevin Asplin has a site about soldiers in the Boer War.
Unfortunately it appears to be blocked to me.

hometown.aol.co.uk/kevinasplin/home.htm

He is very knowledgable, and obtained several lots of service records for me.

Or try this one

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/kevinasplin/home.html

Just got on there.

just tried that link keith

not found

i might just google kevin asplin

thanks for the tip

Bev

I just looked at that site - and can see nothing malicious on there.

i googled it and got a whole spill from badware, the site has been reviewed for malicious contant apparantly

whatever that means

Bev

I wa just quoting what he said when I googled

Asplin Military History Resources
This site may harm your computer.
Compiled by Kevin J. Asplin. 1st Edition was a 100 limited copies. 2nd Edition now available from DP&G Publishing, PO Box 186, Doncaster, S. Yorkshire, ...

Have been on the site, it is ok, its just hometown aol that has been targeted before and signed as bad, not individual sites within hometown.

ok keith

thanks will try the second link

Bev

ok

just looked

no Rabbitts listed

back to the drawing board

Bev

Kevin's site is great and will give you a good insight into the Boer war if you are only just beginning to look at it.

He is very helpful and will advise you where he can, but the site doesn't hold a complete list of soldiers who fought in the Boer war (he is only looking at certain regiments).

The records for this era are at Kew (they may be online by now for all I know though) and are well worth getting - I got my Great Granddad's from there and it was certainly worth the trip to do it.

i know nothing about this war

where would men have to enlist

what regiments would they belong too?

Bev

Hi Bev - I've looked at the site before and couldnt find my grandpa either. I guess it's a trip to Kew for us lass, armed with nowt but a deep seated desire to find the beggers!

I know mine was a pensioner in 1915 cos he's on the Pensioner's lists - have you tried that aspect? My grandad was a long-serving soldier I believe and too old for actual fighting during WWI, so was on a reserve list or something similar. I would like to find out where he was between his birth and his marriage though!

Jac XX

jac

wheres the pensioners lists????

i just found that the somerset light infantry were at the relief of ladysmith in africa in the second boer war

so he might be there

Bev

I found it on Ancestry (I think it's newly listed) and a kind soul from here gave me all the details that could be accessed (as I'm not a member of Ancestry).

Might be worth a name search on there for you.

Jac XX

As this was pre-conscription (which was introduced during WWI) he would have joined the army voluntarily.

He could be a long serving soldier (as was my G Granddad) or he could have signed up for the duration of the war.

Most long serving soldiers signed up for 15 years, serving 7 with the colours (that is on active service wherever the regiment was at the time) and the remaining time spent in reserve (this means they go back to their everyday life but can be called up in times of war - as happened with my G Granddad).

He could have enlisted anywhere and served with whichever regiment he wanted to - for instance my G Granddad lived in Worcester but joined the Leicestershire regiment.

At Kew the records (for that period) are held by regiment and then alphabetically (I think, from memory) so you would need to know which regiment he was in.

A good start would be to google regiments which served in South Africa at the time to give you an idea of which ones it could be (I was lucky I had a photo and could identify the regiment that way) then you could possibly start to narrow it down from any online sites such as Kevin's.

It could be the medal rolls are now available to search at Kew for that time - again, I don't know as it's a few years since I researched mine. If they are you could try to narrow it down that way.

The best advice really is to keep trying all possible avenues and google like mad, ask questions of the experts (such as Kevin) and don't give up - you'll get there!