TOPIC:

Thanks for your reply to an increasingly confusing bit of research. Grandads attestation form clearly states 15th January 1900 for signing on, he was entitled to the Orange Free State medal therefore in SA on or by 28th February 1900, leaving a period of approximately 6 weeks for basic training. Either the medal entitlement date is wrong or the attestation form is wrong and frankly at this point I don't think either are wrong. Even as support to regular troops 6 weeks is not enough training even when you 'learn on the job' I do know that 5 Btn RDF volunteered to go out there and he served with 9 Btn during WW1 so perhaps he was an eager volunteer - at 18! even so the dates don't add up, anything else you might suggest would be appreciated.

Kiltermon
I knew I had seen some reference to the training standard of the Militia at the time of the South African campaign- I have just run across it. I refer to "The Boer War - A History" by Judd and Surridge (ISBN 978 1 78076 591 4) and the passage reads "Initially, the militia recruit would train with the army for three months, and then decide whether to become a full or part time soldier. Those who wished to remain part-time would have to train for one solid month a year." Later, another passage reads "The main problem, however, was that the militia was so short of men that eighteen year olds were allowed to go (to SA), which was not the case in the regular army, where only men twenty and over were initially sent to South Africa".
The idea certainly was to employ the militia Battalions on the Line of Communications to free up the Regulars. However, by the time of the Guerilla campaign, things did not always work out like that. On 7/6/00, the 4th Derbyshire militia was isolated deep in Boer guerilla "territory" without adequate defence arrangements and after being attacked in force were compelled to surrender. Later, they gained more experience. Judd and Surridge comment that over 45,000 men served in the militia during the South African war.
Regards
IL.

What you have said certainly appears, to me at least, perfectly normal for the period in question, you could join a Militia Battalion and if, lets say, less than a month later, the particular Battalion was actually embodied for Foreign Service, you simply went with it.
The Militia had been used for many years as a stepping stone for young lads who wanted to join the Army, but, who initially were not up to the mark required by the War Office, when the Anglo Boer War started to get expensive, the Militia was seen as a stop gap, short term measure to improve the situation.
There was not "months" of training for a great many, if you could be deemed basically fit enough, that was it, but, that said, nor was there any Military Service Act that conscripted them either, each man knew what he was doing and for the vast majority, it was all very deliberate.
All surviving Militia attestation papers are in WO96 and if you have looked at those all important dates, you can safely assume them to be correct.

quote="kiltermon" post=60437]Thanks for your reply to an increasingly confusing bit of research. Grandads attestation form clearly states 15th January 1900 for signing on, he was entitled to the Orange Free State medal therefore in SA on or by 28th February 1900, leaving a period of approximately 6 weeks for basic training. Either the medal entitlement date is wrong or the attestation form is wrong and frankly at this point I don't think either are wrong. Even as support to regular troops 6 weeks is not enough training even when you 'learn on the job' I do know that 5 Btn RDF volunteered to go out there and he served with 9 Btn during WW1 so perhaps he was an eager volunteer - at 18! even so the dates don't add up, anything else you might suggest would be appreciated.[/quote]

Good Morning Kiltermom…….

It seems to me that you have the Orange Free State clasp for the medal on the mind...… Thinking that the February 28th date he must have been there at that time...… The actual regulations read:

"ORANGE FREE STATE" - Awarded to all troops in the Orange Free State at any time between 28 February 1900 and 31 May 1902 inclusive, who had not received a clasp for a specific action in the Orange Free State.

So therefore he could have been in OFS anytime between February 28th 1900 and May 31st 1902.....

Mike

Thanks very much again, as I live in NI I shall have to employ someone to look at WO96 unless of course I find the records are online but either way what you have said more or less confirms what I had assumed given the small amount of information I have.

Thanks again and yes I was aware of the dates and it was these I was using to estimate the earliest possible time that my Grandad could have been in SA since this was issued so close to his signing on date.