TOPIC:

By popular demand and from the Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger of 3 February 1900. For those geographically challenged Bromsgrove was and still is in the County of Worcester.

Below are the names of the Volunteers who received tribute medals from Bromsgrove.


Gold medals, to:

17/07/1901 presentation

Volunteer Active Service Company, 2nd Bn. Worcestershire Regiment –
6733 Sergeant F.W. FISHER (absent - ill in Cape Town; medal presented on 24/11/1902 - see below)
6711 Private W. BROWN (absent - "has left the town")
6716 Private Thomas CLISSETT
6724 Private [Corporal] Walter DELVES
6725 Private G.H. DIPPLE
6727 Private J. DYER
6728 Private Henry Edmund EBORALL
6732 Private Daniel FISHER
6737 Private H.T. GIBBS (absent - serving with Prince of Wales' Light Horse)
6749 Private J. HITCHINGS [Hichens] (absent - "has left the town")
6753 Private William HUGHES
6843 Private H.O. LORD (absent - "has left the town")
6773 Private George MOLE
6789 Private W. REDDING

Presentation made by Mr R.G. Routh, in St George's Hall, Bromsgrove.

Note: Privates Brown, Hitchings & Lord are described as having left the town. Did this preclude them from receiving Bromsgrove medals?



24/11/1902 presentation

Volunteer Active Service Company, 2nd Bn. Worcestershire Regiment –
6733 Sergeant F.W. FISHER

Presentation made at the Dog and Pheasant Hotel, Bromsgrove.

Fisher also received a cheque for £20.



Obverse with 'Tommy in khaki' and: "South African Campaign 1899-1901".
Reverse plain.

"A handsome gold medal, of neat and artistic design. On the obverse was 'Tommy in khaki' in the centre, round which were the words 'South African Campaign 1899-1901', while the whole was surmounted by the head of the Bromsgrove boar. The reverse was quite plain" (Bromsgrove Messenger, 20/07/1901).



Note: each of these men received a second medal from Worcester




Bromsgrove Messenger, 13/07/1901
Worcestershire Chronicle, 15/06/1901
Bromsgrove Messenger, 22/06/1901
Worcestershire Chronicle, 20/07/1901
Bromsgrove Messenger, 20/07/1901
Bromsgrove Messenger, 22/11/1902
Bromsgrove Messenger, 29/11/1902
Alcester Chronicle, 29/11/1902


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Bromsgrove Messenger, 22nd June 1901

THE RETURN OF THE VOLUNTEERS.

DINNER AND SMOKING CONCERT.

Bromsgrove’s welcome to the Active Service Volunteers did not stop at the splendid reception which was accorded to the men upon their return home last week. On Friday evening they were entertained at a public dinner which was given at the Golden Cross Hotel, under the presidency of the Bailiff of Bromsgrove (Dr Ball). The guests were Sergeant RUSSON, Sergeant LLEWELLYN, and Trooper HARRISON, of the Worcestershire Imperial Yeomanry; and Privates W. DELVES, G. MOLE, Dan FISHER, W. HUGHES, W. REDDING, G.H. DIPPLE, J. DYER, W. BROWN, T. CLISSETT, LORD, and J. HICHENS [sic]. There were three absentees from the Bromsgrove contingent of service Volunteers – Sergeant F.W. FISHER, who was left behind with enteric fever at De Aar; Private H.T. GIBBS, who has joined the Prince of Wales’ Light Horse, and remains in South Africa; and Private EBORALL, who lies at home with a return attack of enteric fever. …….
……. After the dinner an adjournment was made to the Drill Hall, where an excellent smoking concert was held. Mr J.W. Fitch (Chairman of the Urban District Council) presided, and at the outset, extended a hearty welcome to the service men. He observed these proceedings were only the commencement of what they intended to do to show their feelings towards those who had returned from South Africa. (Hear, hear). The Past and Present Volunteers had it in contemplation to make a presentation to the Service Volunteers. He did not know whether the fund was absolutely confined to Past and Present Volunteers, and he was sure there were many people in Bromsgrove who would be only too pleased to subscribe. (Applause).


Bromsgrove Messenger, 20th July 1901

Captain Dixon then read the list of the recipients, and Mr Routh presented to each of the men, who wore their khaki uniform, a handsome gold medal, of neat and artistic design. On the obverse was “Tommy in khaki” in the centre, round which were the words “South African campaign 1899-1901”, while the whole was surmounted by the head of the Bromsgrove boar. The reverse was quite plain. Each of the following Volunteers were loudly applauded upon receiving their presents – Corporal DELVES, Privates D. FISHER, MOLE, DIPPLE, HUGHES, REDDING, EBORALL, CLISSETT, and DYER. Sergeant F.W. FISHERS’s medal was handed to Captain Dixon to present to him upon his return. Of the remaining four Bromsgrove Volunteers of the first service company, one is still serving in South Africa and the other three have left the town.


Worcestershire Chronicle, 20th July 1901

VOLUNTEERS. – On Wednesday evening an interesting presentation of gold medals to 10 out of the 14 members of the Bromsgrove contingent of the Worcestershire Volunteer Service Company took place at the St George’s Hall, which was crowded. The chair was occupied by Capt. Dixon, and Mr R.G. Routh made the presentation, in felicitous terms. The medals were presented to Corpl. DELVES, Privates D. FISHER, MOLE, DIPPLE, HUGHES, REDDING, EBORALL, CLISSETT and DYER, and the one for Sergt. F.W. FISHER, who did not return home with his comrades, was left with the Captain of G Company to give to him on his return.


Alcester Chronicle, 29th November 1902

BROMSGROVE.

PRESENTATION TO A VOLUNTEER. – A smoking concert was held at the Dog and Pheasant Hotel, on Monday night, presided over by Mr Ralph Dixon, when Sergeant F.W. FISHER, of the Bromsgrove contingent of volunteers who went out to South Africa, was presented with a handsome gold pendant and a cheque for £20, subscribed by the residents in the town. Sergeant FISHER was commended for gallantry in the field at Boschfontein, but on the eve of his intended return home with his comrades he was seized by illness at Cape Town, and was invalided home some months afterwards. His health has since been of a very precarious nature.

..

Proof that I have too many medals and have been collecting for too long!

The title of this post would not normally have arrested my attention BUT, I now commute to Bromsgrove on a weekly basis being gainfully employed by the Worcester Medal Service in the High Street AND, I recalled that I had a pair of medals with a very definite connection to the town.

Lo and behold, there is my man among the list of Tribute Medals received - 6737 Pte Herbert Thomas Gibbs! The post took me back to a rainy day in Durban when I purchased the medals from the recipients son at the Flame Lilly MOTH Home in Sarnia. Once the deal was done I asked if he had a photo of his father and, as luck would have have it, he had - I was made to pay dearly for the photo but here he is (below) along with a snapshot of his medals. I also include the link to his "story".

Had I have known about the tribute medal I would probably have been able to buy it there and then as well - but I was a young collector, new to the hobby, and blissfully unaware of Tribute Medals in their entirety.

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-...of-wales-light-horse

Neville – there is an interesting discrepancy of one between the tribute medal list and the newspaper list – namely 6843 Private H O Lord who was “absent from the town” when the tribute medals were presented. At the time the newspaper list was published the thirteen other volunteers common to both lists were amongst those “bound for the Cape”, they embarked for South Africa on 23 February 1900 according to their “Military History Sheet” (where they exist) or the 24 February according to newspaper reports. Whichever, they missed out on the 2nd Worcesters black day on the Worcester kopjes on 12 February 1900.

Harold Owen Lord was a later draft and embarked for South Africa on 11 May 1900. He was born in Wolverhampton in 1876 and still living in Wolverhampton at the time of the 1891 Census. When Harold attested in Worcester for overseas service during March 1900 he claimed he had been living in his father’s house for the last 3 years and correctly gave his father’s address as 58 Penn Road, Wolverhampton. So where was his connection with Bromsgrove? In fact he appears to have always been absent from the town.

Harold’s attestation papers do say he was already serving in the “2V/B Worcester Reg” and we have to presume he was a member of the Bromsgrove Rifle Volunteers also known as the G Company of the 2 V/B WR. Now for those geographically challenged, Bromsgrove was (is) as the crow flies 20 miles due south of Wolverhampton but at least anybody with a sense of direction would leave Wolverhampton on the Penn Road. There were at least 6 companies of Rifle Volunteers in Wolverhampton at the time. Strange.

With a surname like Eborall I could not resist whilst resting a bad back. He proved an easy target thanks to a well researched and reliable public family tree on Ancestry. Find a Grave added a couple of photos.

Harold Edmund Eborall was born in Bromsgrove in the early summer of 1879.

The 1891 Census gave his father’s occupation as “Foreman – Button Factory”

Already a member of the Bromsgrove Rifle Volunteers he attested for overseas service on 17 January 1900 in Bromsgrove. He gave his occupation as “Gardener”.

His South African service was logged as 1 year 57 days meaning he just about went full term for a volunteer but he returned unwell and it was 3 months before he was fully discharged.

In 1902 he married Martha Goode who was eight years his senior and a year later Henry Edmund Eborall Junior, so he wrote on the 1911 Census, arrived. At the time they were living at 14 Worcester Street, Bromsgrove and Henry Senior was a “Seedsman & Florist” and an employer although his only employee may have been Maud who was “Assisting in the Business”. I have just visited 14 Worcester Street on Google Street to see if it might have been a shop in 1911, unfortunately whatever stood there in 1911 no longer stands there.

Martha died during 1912 and on 6 March 1913 Henry Senior & Henry Junior set sail from London for Australia. They arrived at Sydney on 27 April 1913.

On 4 February 1916 Henry Senior, now a “farmer”, attested for service in the Australian Imperial Force and signed a form which clearly and in large letters stated at the top “Australian Imperial Force”. A lot of paperwork ensued, which showed he had been late in reporting for initial duty and when he arrived claimed there had been a mistake – when he attested he thought he was answering an advert in the Daily Mail asking men to recruit in the Military Police, he also claimed he was unfit for service in the AIF. A medic did not agree with the latter but after some toing and froing he was discharged three months after he attested.

Henry Senior passed away on 23 August 1928 aged 49 and when Henry Junior was 24. Today his grave marker can be found in Cedar Creek Cemetery, Brisbane and nearby is another memorial he is listed on.



There seem to be groups of Cedar Creek Pioneers across the English speaking world with a possible association to the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War.