TOPIC:

Now and again a new research avenue opens up which could make our lives a little easier and add to the stories of some of our recipients- what I'm about to share with you is a highly niched aspect which will only appeal to the collector who has an ABO medal (very unlikely to have a QSA given that they were in the service of the Transvaal Government...)

Whilst researching Willem Punt, a recipient of mine I stumbled upon a load of NZASM personnel file references in the Transvaal Archives - the NZASM, as the railway of the ZAR Republic, comprised 4500 members most of whom were Dutch expats.

It is within the bounds of possibility, no matter how slim, that some of these employees who manned and ran the trains for the Boers, were awarded medals. Should a member here have one, I would suggest contacting Dewald Nel, a member here, who successfully procured a file for me - an example of what info it contains is attached.



Regards

Rory