TOPIC:

On the way from Port Elizabeth to Graaff Reinet which falls under my remit I pass the road signs to Bluecliff and Glen Connor and believe me when I say there is, quite literally, nothing there apart from the sign boards. I rather think they were the names of farms in the area or, at best, a railway siding now long gone.

After passing them I next encounter Jansenville, a quaint little town with nothing to recommend it unless you are after Karoo lamb for the table. There is a house-museum in the town which was the residence of a previous Mayor, Stan Fourie, his 1940's Ford motor car is still in the garage! There is nothing of Boer War interest but plenty of other interesting tit-bits to browse.

Next comes Graaff Reinet itself which is a large town, lovingly restored (in parts) with the help of the Rupert Foundation - they have a lovely museum there which is well looked after - half of the town is virtually a lived-in museum as well. The one club is called the Coldstreamers (in honour of that regiment who were garrisoned there during the ABW).

Regards

Rory

That's historically a lot more interesting than my drive to work!

The 8 Town Guards in the ORC/OFS.

Don't forget the Transvaal, Rory!

Rory wrote: Plotting the number of medals issued to their geographical locations is a commendable exercise David. I know you are showing the Western Cape in your example, but please expand your reach to include all e.g. Natal, OFS etc.

I'm not sure that this will help with the naming style IL. What were your thoughts around that?

Regards

Rory

Here are the 5 Town Guard unit formed in the Transvaal

I think it is certainly worth noting that the Rand Rifles actually were, in effect, the Johannesburg town guard, although, that did not reflect in their name, notwithstanding, if you were a resident, you would need a fairly good excuse to avoid service within it's ranks unless you were already employed in a particularly important position, moreover, certainly up in Heidelberg, the towns famous band of volunteers were attested, equally famously, as a Town Guard and ended up with medals from Woolwich with a Transvaal clasp, whilst an error, the provisional administration were keen to ensure no further issue of clasps were made!