TOPIC:

Hi all
I have been referred here from another Forum as the information I seek concerns The Durban Light Infantry. QSA with bars,'Relief of Ladysmith','Transvaal' to 803 Private J.CROW, Durban Light Infantry. He is stated to have been present on the armoured train wrecked at Chieveley,(Estcourt) North of Frere, Natal on 15 November 1899. The incident is famous because it resulted in the capture by the Boers of the young, Winston Churchill. CROW is not listed on the casualty roll as wounded or as a prisoner and no papers for the Regiment are filed at the National Archives,Kew. If any member of the forum has access to Service Papers for the Regiment and can check to ascertain any information regarding CROW with a view to establishing if he was indeed present at Estcourt on that day I would be greatly obliged.
Sincerely
Pelling

Hi Pelling,

And a warm welcome to the forum.
Although I am not able to answer your question, your man is listed here www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/so...urban-light-infantry under John Crowe.
Brett Hendey is an expert on the DLI hopefully he will come along and offer his expertise.

Cheers
Paul

Pelling wrote: Hi all
I have been referred here from another Forum as the information I seek concerns The Durban Light Infantry. QSA with bars,'Relief of Ladysmith','Transvaal' to 803 Private J.CROW, Durban Light Infantry. He is stated to have been present on the armoured train wrecked at Chieveley,(Estcourt) North of Frere, Natal on 15 November 1899. The incident is famous because it resulted in the capture by the Boers of the young, Winston Churchill. CROW is not listed on the casualty roll as wounded or as a prisoner and no papers for the Regiment are filed at the National Archives,Kew. If any member of the forum has access to Service Papers for the Regiment and can check to ascertain any information regarding CROW with a view to establishing if he was indeed present at Estcourt on that day I would be greatly obliged.
Sincerely
Pelling

Hello, welcome here,
When you say "he is stated" could you say by who, that is of course very important, is it an official source or not?
Because the Durban Light Infantry was part of the Natal Volunteers, rather than the SAMIF or British Army, papers do not exist at Kew, only their nominal roll and medal roll, the former both shows his name as Crowe and states his actual wartime service.
Regards Frank Kelley

Pelling wrote: Hi all
I have been referred here from another Forum as the information I seek concerns The Durban Light Infantry. QSA with bars,'Relief of Ladysmith','Transvaal' to 803 Private J.CROW, Durban Light Infantry. He is stated to have been present on the armoured train wrecked at Chieveley,(Estcourt) North of Frere, Natal on 15 November 1899. The incident is famous because it resulted in the capture by the Boers of the young, Winston Churchill. CROW is not listed on the casualty roll as wounded or as a prisoner and no papers for the Regiment are filed at the National Archives,Kew. If any member of the forum has access to Service Papers for the Regiment and can check to ascertain any information regarding CROW with a view to establishing if he was indeed present at Estcourt on that day I would be greatly obliged.
Sincerely
Pelling

Hi Paul and Frank
Many thanks for the warm welcome. With regard to the source of the information, it is unofficial in that it came from an article written in "Coin & Medal News" dated May 1984. "Returning once more to the train we find Churchill and his volunteers striving still to clear the track. One of these volunteers was Pte. JACK CROW. His efforts were unflagging and earned from Churchill a handshake and the title of 'a brave wee man'". I presume that the author of the article must have obtained this information from somewhere but whether the source was official I do not know, neither do I know who the author was as I only have page 61 of the magazine issue and the details of authorship must have been given on a previous page. The questions to be answered are, was there any other man named CROW(E) with the Regiment at that time who might have been on the train and was JOHN CROW(E) sometimes referred to as JACK CROW. Surname is CROW on the medal and in the magazine article. Any further help would be welcome.
Regards
Pelling

Well, I think the obvious thing to do is speak to Medal News about that particular article and see what they can tell you about the source, it sounds to me like a published one i.e. the author has merely transcribed it from a book, but, it could be a letter or a diary.
The name on the medal will normally match the name on the roll from which it was issued, in this case Crow, it may be correct, the name on the nominal roll is Crowe, but, the number is the same on both, there is no other man of either name.
I have to say though, that really does sound very promising indeed regarding the train and WLSC, the fact that it was in Medal News does give it a great deal of credibility, if it turns out to be the case, then you have got yourself a really good medal!

Thanks Frank, I will indeed contact our man at "Medal News", you know the one,and hope that their records go back as far as 1984. I am not sure if he was born then, but his dad might know.
Kind regards
Pelling