TOPIC:

I think we have our man. Alfred Ernest Coole.
Seems to have been a naughty boy on his return to Ireland, Curragh camp. Quite a few entries pertaining to fraudulent cashing of cheques whilst on camp 1902 with the 14th Hussars.


However, we seem to have Identified the soldier who wrote home, but we are no closer to the Liverpudlian who supposedly worked for the Boers.

Dave - a cool piece of detective work.

We now know the letter writer to his brother was a man of dubious character. Was the "Liverpudlian helper of the Boers" an invented confusion device in case stories of a Liverpudlian (i.e. himself) misbehaving in SA leaked back home?

David- I had the same thoughts, certainly a possibility.
I think you mentioned that the Tregilgas family trees suggested that Alfred died circa 1906? I have enclosed a record of a death of Alfred Coole, which does fit the timeline. Perhaps he decided to keep his mothers maiden name after his return from South Africa?

The main public FT, bearing photos of his parents, just states Alfred Ernest died Q4 1906 and most of the others have just copied this I suspect. But at least one is of independent means and has attached the Q4 1906 registration of his death in Liverpool under the name Tregilgas. His age at death, 31, fits better with his known 1875 birth than the A Coole you have found. A newspaper search I did showed Coole was a surprisingly common surname especially in Ireland where there is a town called Coole.

See penultimate entry in left column:

If nobody already has, I'll get a copy of Alfred Coole's death certificate.

Edit -Ordered.

Alfred Coole, foundry labourer, of 30, Bean Street, Everton, Liverpool, and married to Bridget Coole.

He died in the workhouse, and the cause of death was phthisis pulmonalis, aka tuberculosis.
.