TOPIC:

Was he entitled to a medal?
. ....We learn with regret that a young man from Ashton has died in the hospital at Durban, viz., Harold James Simpkin, youngest son of the late Mr. Jonathan Simpkin, a former member of the old Local Board and District Council, and licensee of the Golden Lion Hotel. It appears that Harold went out to South Africa in the ss. Tartar, and only a fortnight ago a letter was received from him stating that all was well, and this week his relatives have received official notification of his death from fever in the hospital at Durban.
The Wigan Observer, Saturday 2nd December 1899

The Ashton mentioned is Ashton-in-Makerfield. He was born in the last quarter of 1876.

Berenice
I would think so and so it proved in Fevyer and Wilson's "QSA to RN and RM". A no clasp medal to "286107 Stoker H. Simpkin" of HMS Tartar (that ship's crew's first entitlement period ran from 2/10/99 to 11/10/00.
Regards
IL.