TOPIC:

Hello Brett,

That looks like a superb book, and to have the medal of the photographed Trooper, great stuff.
More images please!

Paul

Hi Frank,

thanks for the advice, I'll look around and see whats available. The ILH in GSWA is also an interesting topic.

regards,
Iain

Frank Kelley wrote: Iain,
You must get a copy of Gibson's book, they are around at a price and it is possible to build up a very nice collection of Imperial Light Horse if you are willing to go past 1902.
You can still find good trio's for GSWA named to both the 5th Mounted Rifles and 2nd Imperial Light Horse for very little money compared to the cost of many of their QSA's.
Regards Frank

Hello Iain,
What I like about GSWA and Union forces in general for WW1 is that the research is all there, even the basic medal cards tell you far more than a British medal index card would! papers and medical files, it is all there unlike the British Army, though of course, we can thank some German visitors for the lack of British Army papers!
The problem is, I like it all to a degree, but, I suppose it would have to be the Boer War that really does it for me!
Forgot to add, I think my copy of Gibson's book was around the £50 mark and that was many years ago now, if you see a good clean copy, I think you should just buy it, you won't regret doing so in the long term.
I wish you well with your Imperial Light Horse collecting, I can't really think of a better corps that existed back then.
Frank

My grandfather like many others enlisted as a volunteer in the Imperial Yeomanry. I have been anxious to get a picture of what life was like for him.
I recently discovered a book which I highly recommend.
It is ... Volunteers on the Veld -Britain's Citizen Soldiers and the South African War, 1899-1902 by Stephen M. Miller.
I found this fascinating and a welcome change from the history books which concentrate on the regular army, their various and variable generals and the battles they fought.
I found the latter chapters which dealt with the repugnant activities in which Yeoman soldiers were involved in the latter part of the war e.g farm burning - execution of Boer prisoners and the abduction of families to concentration camps heart breaking.
So too is the balanced reporting about the conduct of Yeoman soldiers under fire.
I am very proud of my grandfather who joined up for 12 months and served for nearly two years but who was never very communicative about his service.

Hi Mike

Thanks for your contribution to the thread and your recommendation, will look out for it on my travels.

Paul

Hi all,

on the cover of Thomas Packenham's "The Boer war" there is a famous picture of a mounted unit; can anyone identify the unit. I have it in my mind that it is the Life Guards but I'm not certain.

Thanks,

Iain