TOPIC:

My grandfather was H Dyson, 30756, RHA, Q Battery. I have his medals for Boer and WWI. The Boer War medal roll lists him as forfeiting due to desertion and then being pardoned later. How can I find his records to confirm this?

Hello and welcome,
I've just looked at WO100/139 and I am unsure as why you feel the need to confirm the information given there.
I see he was also taken POW at Sannahs Post, a very nice set of medals, if his service papers have survived I would expect to find them in WO363 or WO364 at the TNA Kew, almost all of which are available on line at ancestry, you might also look in WO97, most of which are available on line at FMP.
Regards Frank

Hello again,
I forgot to add, that, I have had to use the term "Vicous fight" already on here this week, to describe an event that took place in Natal, I find myself doing so again to describe the action at Sannah's Post on the 31st of March 1900, from memory, there were only a handful of men from the historic "Queens" battery who did not become casualties that day, they were all magnificent, their senior officer Major Phipps-Hornby received the Victoria Cross, one of several awarded on that day.

I think you should feel very proud of your grandfather and his actions that day and I hope that you will show a picture of his medals on here, I am sure that there are other forum members and not just me who would like to see them.
Moreover, in my opinion, any later transgressions made by him should be forgiven by you!
Regards again Frank

Thanks for the info, Frank. The copy of the medal roll online is very hard to read, thus my confusion. I am doing this research for my Uncle, who is the the last remaining child of Harmon Dyson. We knew about the POW but not the desertion. I think I read that he was pardoned for the desertion, thus he got his medals. It would interesting to know the dates of the charges and pardon as well as the situation. He reenlisted to the RA as a gunner in WWI and was given the Volunteer Medal and the 1914-1919 Victory Medal. I will add the image later.

Good morning,
The Edwardian period is really just not what I do, but, as it is, still part of the golden age and therefore still of some interest to me.

Special Army Order 23rd of May 1910,
"Deserters from the army will, under circumstances referred to, will be granted a pardon if they surrender before the 23rd of july 1910 at home, or before the 23rd of September 1910 abroad.
They will be allowed to serve in the corps in which they are at the time of surrender,except those who come under the conditions of paragraph 526 of Kings Regulations"

This may well have been modified and/or extended, but, the fact is, the king's Pardon was granted many times during the period in question here.
Regards again Frank

bricketts wrote: Thanks for the info, Frank. The copy of the medal roll online is very hard to read, thus my confusion. I am doing this research for my Uncle, who is the the last remaining child of Harmon Dyson. We knew about the POW but not the desertion. I think I read that he was pardoned for the desertion, thus he got his medals. It would interesting to know the dates of the charges and pardon as well as the situation. He reenlisted to the RA as a gunner in WWI and was given the Volunteer Medal and the 1914-1919 Victory Medal. I will add the image later.

Hello again,
I was thinking about you this afternoon, If I were you I think I would go and talk to your uncle at length on the subject of his father and get as much information as possible, from his earlist child memories of Harmon, to his final ones.
Did Harmon keep a diary for example, just anything at all really, I have to say I am more than a little envious, I wish I'd had an ancester that was actually there at Sannah's Post on that awful day.

When I was a very small boy, my parents took me on holiday to the Lake District, the weather was typical and very wet indeed, so my father made up his mind to return home early at on the way back down, we stopped off in Blackpool for a few days.
I should tell you that this was quite a place for a little boy, not too far from the hotel, was a wonderful small shop "The Military Man", complete with a green sandwich board type sign on the pavement outside with a white "American" star on it.
It was in a terraced row and the shop its self was really just the small front room of what had been just a house.
The owner, had and indeed, sold, just about everything, medals, badges, buttons, a row of various helmets and a rail of battle dress blouse's etc, you get the picture I am sure, I was just about seven years old I think!
Anyway cap badges were very cheap in those days, the owner pointed out a more expensive one, a Victorian East Surrey Regt, he pointed out the differant crown and told me that this one was more of a real collectors item, I persuaded my long suffering dad to buy it for me, that was it, I was hooked!
Later that evening, back at the hotel, I was in the reception area looking at my spoils when a very old man came over and asked me "What have you got there then?"
I should point out here that when I was seven, anyone over forty was deamed to be, indeed, very old!
Anyway, he picked up the badge and told that he used to have one just like it whilst serving in the said East Surrey Regt!
Only years later did I realise the the old gentleman was a Victorian and a veteran of the Boer War, when you are so young, you have no understanding of time or the passage of time.
So you see, dispite being so interested in the Transvaal War and the Boer War, I have never really met or talked to anyone who was actually there, moreover, my other love is Great War and WW2 flying.
To my lasting regret, I never got to talk to a single member of the RFC/RNAS either, now of course it is to late, I have however, been able to make up for it with the WW2 flying and have met over three hundred of them down the years!

I'm telling you this, because I think it is so very important to get everything down on record of the future, your grandfather sounds very interesting, if he had been mine, I would be very proud indeed!
Regards again Frank