TOPIC:

Was enlistment in the Yeomanry matched by similar enthusiasm to join the Volunteer Battalions for service in South Africa?

About 280 Norfolk Volunteers served in the War. How can I identify who was a pre-war Volunteer and who was volunteering just for the War? Are there recruiting documents (Ancestry or FMP?) that may help me?

The Norfolk Volunteers were renumbered as regulars, but I would like to know if new recruits got a Volunteer number before renumbering or if they went straight to the regular number pool for the fresh Volunteers. Newspaper lists of the first two drafts of Norfolk Volunteers identify the men by company and battalion. This is a hint, perhaps not a strong one, that, if there were new recruits, they were joining up at their local drill hall rather than a centralized location, possibly making an initial Volunteer number more likely. Does anybody have anything on this?

I would be grateful for any help.

Rob.

This link to the Volunteer Service Gazette via Findmypast provides the requirements needed of Volunteer Force men for service in South Africa.

search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/ViewArticle?...6%2F0003&browse=true

The requirement that a Volunteer be classed as "Efficient" in the years 1898 and 1899 appears to be an impediment to anyone "who was volunteering just for the War"

It may well be that men were attracted to join the Volunteers because of the war and would then be given a Volunteer number. Army numbers were only allocated to those Volunteers accepted and attested for Army service in South Africa.

Pete

That is vy helpful, thank you I have been working on the Norfolk Vol Bn numbers. Your information says there are no South Africa only men to consider. That will make things easier.

Rob.