TOPIC:

I read that "D" Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, didn't see service in South Africa,but did it? I can find no other mentions of either T. O. Harries or Ted Ching.

"Mrs. Ching, Station-row, Porthcawl, received on Monday a letter from T. O. Harries, of the "D" Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, to the effect that her son, "Ted" Ching, was taken ill on the 9th of October, and was removed to hospital, where he lingered on for some time, but succumbed on the 21st. He was buried next day with military honours. "Ted" was aged 23, was a native of Porthcawl, and the son of Mr. Robert Ching. He was one of the seven survivors of the "D" Battery which was cut up in the beginning of the war."
Evening Express, 21st November 1900
newspapers.library.wales/view/3473881/3473883/28/

"News has reached Porthcawl that Ted Ching, son of Mrs. R. Ching, Station-row, Porthcawl, has died from fever in one of the field hospitals. Ching was aged 23, and was formerly in the D Battery, R.H.A.
South Wales Daily News, 21st November 1900
newspapers.library.wales/view/3747137/3747142/57/

Robert Ching, the father, served in the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps during the war.

Robert Ching had an 'interesting' military career, to say the least!

Mr. Robert Ching, the veteran athlete, Porthcawl, received on Friday a three-clasp South African medal. Ching, it will be remembered, volunteered for the front soon after the commencement of the South African War, but his offer was refused on account of his age. Not to be denied "a smack at the Boers" - as he himself put it - he went to Southampton, declaring that he would get to the front "by hook or by crook," and eventually stowed himself away on the Rosslyn Castle, which was bound for Cape Town. Three days after the steamer sailed he was discovered, and, proving himself a handy man, he became a valet to one of the chief officers on board. His experiences en route and in South Africa form a very amusing story. He eventually joined the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and in that capacity he served through the Boer War. He was present at Spion Kop, the relief of Ladysmith, and at the chief encounters of the war. On his return home Ching took up business as a fish and fruit merchant, which he still carries on.
Evening Express, 9th October 1904

Perhaps Mr. Bob Ching would have been wiser, and of more use to the war effort, if he had joined the coast-watchers at Porthcawl. Instead, Bob, 65, from Railway Terrace, Porthcawl, having been turned down at the recruitment office on account of age, headed for Belgium. Returning, slightly wounded, he explained that after ‘seeing a Belgian wounded, I collared a gun and popped at the Germans.’ According to Bob, he was then taken prisoner. He stated, ”With a cleaver I knocked down several of them. I managed to escape by crawling for 4 hours.” On 8th October he left again for France, stating that this time he was going to avoid Belgium. ‘Bob’s Adventure’ as the ‘Porthcawl News’ reported it, seems so implausible to us today, but it served to maintain a belief in British superiority and spirit, which was typical of the time. Can Bob be believed? Research proves that Bob had already done a similar thing during the Boer War. Bob died in December 1917, at his home in Porthcawl. A true character.
www.porthcawlandthegreatwar.com/august---december-1914.html

Berenice,

Very interesting articles.

I can see Robert on the Ancestry index but not Edward/Ted Ching

There is a 241 Pte T Harries in the 3rd Btn, Welsh Regiment. That's the closest match.

Coincidentally, another Porthcawl soldier, George Dunne, who died at Aldershot in January 1900, was reported to be attached to the Royal Horse Artillery and had been ordered to the front.