TOPIC:

Smethwick, you write "The 80th Regiment of Foot known as the "Staffordshire Volunteers" were definitely in the area during the Zulu War of 1878/79...""
They were indeed, and were overwhelmed by the Zulus at Intombe Drift. There were only around 50 survivors out of the 150 men; for weeks afterwards, as the river rose and fell with the rains, corpses were found in the water and along the banks. Martini Henry rifles, 90,000 rounds of ammunition and 225 lb (102 kg) of gunpowder were also lost.
One of the lost Martini Henrys surfaced in a police sale in Natal of confiscated weapons in 1971 or 1972. The butt has the stamped number 80 (unit number) and 464 (rack number).

The North Staffordshire Regiment drew many of their men from the six towns that made up the Potteries – they all now make up the City of Stoke-on-Trent. Five of them were mentioned in the Staffordshire Advertiser Article of 28 June 1902 (previously posted by Neville) – “The Second Service Company was composed of a half company of 1st V.B. North Staffordshire Regiment from Longton, Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke, Goldenhill, Newcastle, Leek, Stone, and Trentham.” – namely Longton, Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall and Stoke. Interestingly the one not mentioned, Fenton, was the one ignored by Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) in his “Five Towns” novels about life in the Potteries.

Charles Edmund Boote was very much a man of the Potteries. He was born in late 1874 in a village immediately to the south of the Potteries where his father and uncle owned a factory making earthen ware products including tiles. Charles was educated at Shrewsbury School and the 1891 census found him a 16 year old boarder there. His father died later in 1891 and by 1894 Charles had taken over the running of T & R Boote & Co. He went to South Africa in 1901 as a married man of 5 years. On returning to the day to day running of the family business in 1902 he concentrated on the manufacture of fireplace tiles and these days examples can fetch 3 figures.

www.antiqueendeavors.com/webshop/antique...tiles/t-r-boote-ltd/

During the Great War he initially served in the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment and rose to the rank of Major. Shortly before the start of the Battle of the Somme he was made commanding officer of the 6th Battalion North Staffordhire Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. On 1st July 1916 he led his new battalion over the top and is thought to have been one of the first men to die in the Battle of the Somme. His rank of Lieutenant-Colonel was never substantiated and according to a discussion on the Great War Forum between two members who were in contact with his grandson, his widow (Gertrude) had a dispute with the War Office because she only received a Major’s pension.

www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/305423/