TOPIC:

I have a fairly common chocolate tin that was issued to the British troops; the background colour is red, with a gold portrait of Victoria and "South Africa 1900"printed to the right, and at the bottom "I wish you a happy New Year - Victoria RI" as if in handwriting. Not particularly rare in itself, but this example has been customised by being encased in rosewood, with a cedarwood lining, for cigars or cigarettes. On the bottom a name and address is scratched what appears to be: "Deputy(?) 34 E L Matton, K.R.M.I., Dordrecht, CC South Africa, 2/3/1900" The "1900" is underlined. There are two other words, roughly at right angles to the address, but I can't decipher them.

Any comments or help would be welcome

That's interesting. There is only one E L Matton on the QSA rolls. 734 Private E L Matton served in the Kaffrarian Rifles and was later commissioned in Driscoll's Scouts.

Perhaps the KRMI is Kaffrarian Rifles Mounted Infantry?

He was involved in the Wepener siege between 9 - 25 Apr 00.

It would be worth checking where the Kaffrarian Rifles were just before Wepener.

Regards
David

Thanks very much for that, David - I'll try to follow your suggestions up.