TOPIC:

A very special medal,well to me yes, here starts the story..........
Being a member of one of our sister sites The British Medal Forum I like to read the threads as I feel this increases my knowledge of medals.
It was November last year when i read a thread about a Frederick John Vallender, as this is my family name I got quite excited.
I PM'd the poster who told me he had Frederick's KSA he had served with Bethune's Mounted Infantry, I asked him to keep me informed of any further research.
Months had past by and I must admit I had forgotten about the request then out of the blue he contacted me last week with six pages of information, the story is quite interesting as you will see.
Then to my suprise he contacted me again to ask me if I wanted the medal on a swap basis, I of course said yes and I now have the medal in my possesion.
Fredrick originated from the Gloucester area which is where my family group originate from, although I am unable to verify what relation he is I am certain he has a connection.
Records are a little vague to say the least as you will read.
frederick was also awarded the QSA which I would ask members to look out for me on there travels.
I have copied most of the text from the original so excuse any mistakes, it may also seem a little long winded at first but this explain the true complicated story.




FREDERICK VALLENDER AND SOLDIER SONS
Frederick married three times, and had two
liaisons. He probably had eleven children.
His first soldier son Frederick (1853-1884), was born as Frederick John
Burford to Mary Burford, whom Frederick senior married in 1857 in
Gloucester. The family grouping is found on the 1861 census with
GLOUCESTER - 16 Columb1a Street
Vellender Fredec~ck
Mary [Burford]
El12:a.beth
Freder~ck
Anqellna
Fanny
Dav1d [Darall1l]
Hd H 35 Labourer
Wi M 35
Ca 12
So 7
Ca 5
Da 3
So 1
Gloucester
Gloucestllc
Gloucester
Gloucllst4ir
Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucestec
It is extremely doubtful if Elizabeth is a daughter of Frederick
In 1871 the census was
GLOUCESTER 19 Columbia Street
El~za
Hd W 36 Corn porter Gloucester
Da U 19 Servant GlouclIstlic
So U 19 Bric~laYlirs lab Gloucester
Da U 15 At match factory Gloucester
Oa 13 At match factory Gloucester
Frederlc~
Ang.lina
Fanny
A son John age 10, who was the second soldier son, was with his
grandparents. Mary Ann nee Burford, his wife, died in 1867.
In the mid 1870s Frederick junior moved to Lancashire where he enlisted
in the 6th Royal Lancashire 'Militia when he was a bricklayer. As will he
seen from the newspaper cutting he was in trouble at Pendleton,
Manchester on the 23rd April 1877 when he was found guilty of drunk
and riotous behaviour and admitted to Strangcways prison for 14 days
and also had to pay 13/6 costs. He was released on the 5" May.

On the 13thJune 1878 he enlisted at the 16th Brigade sub district depot at
Ashton-under-Lyric with a service number of 175. Ill: had obtained his
release papers from the Militia and finally attested on 1st June. He was
described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a fresh complexion, brown
eyes, and dark brown hair.
He had been medically examined on the 14th June, and in consequence of
that examination, was admitted to hospital on the 28th December for
treatment with mercury for Primary Syphilis. He was discharged on the
29th January and on following day began treatment for Secondary
Syphilis. Frederick finally left hospital on the 21 s[ February 1879. He
wasn't cured, the disease was just alleviated.
The 16th Brigade served as a sub district depot for two regiments. They
were the 6Y (West Suffolk) and the 96[h regiment who had been linked
together since 1873.
[photograph of Ladysmith Barracks - Ashton under Lyme]
Frederick remained in this home station until the 28[h September 1878
when he formed part of the draft for the 63rd Regiment, which had been
stationed in India since 1870. It was currently stationed in Umballa
which was where Frederick joined it on the th November.
On the 28u1 July 1880 the regiment was ordered to prepare for service in
Afghanistan and relieve the besieged garrison at Kandahar. Orders were
received on the 12'h August to proceed towards Afghanistan and 22
officers and 807 men boarded trains which took them to Sibi on the
Beluchistan frontier. On the 18th August, headquarters and two
companies left for Quetta via the Bolan Pass, being followed by two
companies. s each h day on the 19,th• and 21 S[ as there was sufficient
accommodation for a larger body of men in the pass.
Frederick was part of the two companies that advanced on the 19th.
As the companies arrived in Quetta, they either garrisoned lines of
communications or joined up with the s" Bengal Cavalry and Royal
Horse Artillery. The force then left Quetta and marched to Killa
Abdullah on the 1st September. They were now only two marches from
Kandahar but learnt on the 4th September that General Roberts had
defeated the besieging forces and relieved Kandahar. On the 51h
September the regiment received orders to retire to Gulistan from where
they were again ordered to proceed towards Kandahar. A company then
advanced into the Arabi valley where they punished the natives and
collected supplies which was accomplished without casualties.
Further punitive action took place on the 29th September and then finally
on the 4th Octoher, headquarters and tour companies marched into
cantonments at Kandahar, which they occupied for the winter. Kandahar
was evacuated on the 22nd April 1881 when the 63rd regiment furnished
the city guard. On the following day the regiment marched towards
Khojack and finally arrived back in Quetta on the s" May.
On the 29th May Frederick was admitted to hospital suffering from
pulmonary phthisis or tuberculosis. This disease was common in
Victorian times and infected every class of person. However, it was
more common among the poor, due to poor diet and cramped and over
crowded accommodation. The close proximity of men in barracks
formed the ideal conditions for this disease to he spread among them.
Diagnosis usually did not occur until late into its development and the
victim was allowed to remain among the unaffected, spreading the
disease unnoticed. Treatment was basic and little understood and
Frederick was given tonic and expectorants which did nothing to cure the
disease but merely alleviated the symptoms. He spent 178 days in
hospital at Quetta and Sialkote before he was released still carrying the
disease.
While Frederick was in hospital, the 63rd regiment and the 96th regiment
had been linked on the 1st July 1880 by an order from Horse Guards, the
63nl forming the Ist Battalion Manchester Regiment. A general order on
the 21~t July specified that the regiment had been awarded the honour of
bearing "Afghanistan 1878-80" on their colours. Finally, the award of an
Afghanistan war medal was granted, although the regiment did not
qualify for any clasps. They were presented to the men on the 10th
February 1882.
The regiment was ordered to march back into Afghanistan on the 29'h
May 1882, but Frederick had been left behind at Kalabagh. He was
suffering severely from phthisis and was admitted to hospital on the II th
May 1882. He was admitted again in June and a further admission
occurred in August, which saw him hospitalised for 66 days.
He was ordered to return to the UK where he arrived on the 29th
November. Within days he was admitted to Warley Hospital suffering
from bronchitis. Finally, on the 11th May 1883 he was admitted to
Woolwich Hospital again with phthisis. An invaliding board was set up
on the 28th July 1883 to consider what should be done with him and its
recommendations was medical discharge, which occurred on the] 8th
September 1883 at Woolwich. .
Frederick, when discharged. was on the point of death, as he died the
foJlowing year on the 10th June 1884 in his native city of Gloucester, and
was buried at Tredworth Cemetery, Gloucester. He left a modest £40
which was inherited by his father Frederick as next of kin.



The second soldier son of Frederick senior was John, bom in 1861, in
Gloucester his mother being Mary Ann nee Burford. The last known
sighting of John in the UK is the 1871 census, and the next is in Durban
South Africa in October 1899.
When war broke out with the Boers on the 11th October] 899, several
irregular units of mounted infantry were formed. One such unit was
Bethune's Mounted Infantry which was formed by Lieutenant Colonel
Edward Bethune in Durban on the 16th October. The value of the
mounted infantry at the time was little appreciated and Bethune's
foresight was later rewarded in the war when he was given command of a
cavalry brigade. The unit's numbers included British, Australian,
Scandinavians, Americans, and disenchanted Uitlanders who had left the
Transvaal. John Vallender volunteered and joined the unit on the 23rd
October with the service number of 591.
Bethune's Mounted Infantry now saw action at Willow Grange on the
2211d November 1899. The Boers had placed a gun on Brynbella Hill and
General Hildyard sent troops from Estcourt, which included Bethune's
Mounted Infantry, to capture this gun. The infantry attacked at night and
soon became mixed up with the arrival of Boer reinforcements.
On the 5th February orders came for the Bethune Mounted Infantry to go
to Grey town in order to participate in any movement towards Dundee.
General Buller later wrote;
A force under Colonel Bethune had been holding Grey town and the line ofthe
Tegula, that force being five squadrons of Bethune's Mounted lnfantry..; This force
I had ordered to advance concurrently with OUT advance on Veermauks Kraal and we
established connection with it at 11 ole. Colonel Bethune's arrangements had been
very good. He had seized during the night the hills which commanded the southern
sides of the pass up which we had to approach. At 11.20 we advanced up the pass.
The enemy made a poor defence and fled pursued by the Colonial Mounted troops.
On the 19111 May 1900 the unit suffered the greatest Joss during the war
when Colonel Bethune and about 500 men were ordered to march from
Dundee to Newcastle On the one squadron rode into Scheeper's
Nek about six miles south of Vryheid, where a church service was taking
place without apparently noticing the Boer guards. The squadron found
itself in an exposed position when the Boers opened fire, the squadron's
horses suffered severely. The dismounted infantry replied as best they
could but were forced to withdraw. Very few of the men managed to
escape with two officers and 26 men being killed and two officers and 30
men wounded.
At the end of September Bethune's Mounted Infantry took part in the
advance on Wakkerstroom. After three hours of fighting the Mounted
Infrantry made a dash for the to\VTIand came under heavy tire as they
crossed a bridge. The Boers then fell back to the hills and the infantry
took possession of the town. Three days later they headed for Utrecht
and encountered Boers when a short engagement then took place.
The Boers then again retired but were found to be in possession of a
Kopje the following morning. Bethune's Mounted Infantry got within
900 yards of them and then opened fire. When the Boers retired the
Mounted Infantry took possession of Utrecht
For the rest of the year Bethune's Mounted Infantry carried out patrol
work in the south of the Transvaal and experienced some skirmishing.
General Buller wrote in his despatch on the 9th November 1900;
The mounted work of guarding the communications was carried out by Bethune's
Mounted Infantry ... Colonel Bethune raised this regiment and commanded it most
effectively throughout the campaign.
In December 1900, Bethune's Mounted Infantry were ordered to Orange
River Colony where several skirmishes with Boer Commandos took place

On 9th April 1901 at Dedwetsdorp, a detachment of 150 Mounted Infantry
attacked a Boer convoy and after two hours fighting captured 83
prisoners. Finally, on the 19th May, the unit was ordered to Cape
Colony, where they spent the rest of the war chasing Boer Commandos.
On the 11th September 190 I there was a clash with the forces of
Commandant Smuts at Stavelberg where the unit lost 7 men killed and 6
wounded. Bethune's Mounted Infantry had little chance of gaining any
distinction for the invaluable work they were performing but were
recognised by favourable comments from General Kitchener.
On the 6th January, John Vallender was transferred back to the depot of
Bethune's Mounted Infantry in preparation for his discharge.
He received two medals for his services during the Boer War. The first
was the Queen's South Africa with six clasps; Tugela Heights, Relief of
Ladysmith. Laing's Nek, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal.
The second was the King's South Africa with the clasps South Africa
1901 and 1901 which he received in 1902.
Following his discharge there is no record of him in the UK. It is
assumed that he stayed in South Africa, but there is no record of his
staying there, but the South African records of the period are very poor.
He gave his youngest sister, Mrs Fanny Westbury (1857-1924) of
Columbia Street Gloucester, as his next of kin on his discharge record.
Frederick is listed on the Nominal Rolls on this site.



If you got to the end well done and thank you for reading

Paul Vallender

Good morning Paul,
Only two things left to do here, establish the exact relationship to your own family and then obtain his QSA if it still exists!
Frank

Good morning Frank

Both ongoing quests!!

Paul

Frank Kelley wrote: Good morning Paul,
Only two things left to do here, establish the exact relationship to your own family and then obtain his QSA if it still exists!
Frank

Paul

A great story and a reminder of what makes medal collecting such a rewarding hobby.

There are six files relating to F J Vallender in the SA National Archives Repository in Pretoria (under TAB - Records of the former Transvaal). They date between 1903 and 1906 and seem to have something to do with a mining enterprise. They may not tell you much about the man himself, but they should reveal what he was up to immediately after the war.

Prior to 1950, the only other Vallender recorded in the SA Archives was in 1924 with the use of the name as an alias by an Australian criminal, Edgar.

I doubt that staff at the Archives would be inclined to copy the files for you, so you would have to employ a local researcher to do so.

Regards
Brett

Good Morning Paul.....

Best of luck in your search.....

I have checked my collection and sorry he is not here.....

Mike

Hello Brett

Thanks for the comments and the extra information, that is good to know.

Paul

Brett Hendey wrote: Paul

A great story and a reminder of what makes medal collecting such a rewarding hobby.

There are six files relating to F J Vallender in the SA National Archives Repository in Pretoria (under TAB - Records of the former Transvaal). They date between 1903 and 1906 and seem to have something to do with a mining enterprise. They may not tell you much about the man himself, but they should reveal what he was up to immediately after the war.

Prior to 1950, the only other Vallender recorded in the SA Archives was in 1924 with the use of the name as an alias by an Australian criminal, Edgar.

I doubt that staff at the Archives would be inclined to copy the files for you, so you would have to employ a local researcher to do so.

Regards
Brett