Charles Benjamin Thomas (1860-1942) was my great-uncle. He joined the Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) in 1890 and transferred to the Army Pay Corps in 1892. During Nov. 1899 - June 1903 he was in South Africa, promoted to Staff Sergeant in 1901 and to Staff Quarter Master Sergeant in 1904. He retired after 29 years’ service in June 1919 with the rank of SQMS and was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. I have found him in the Military Campaign and Medal Award Rolls with entitlement to the Queen’s South Africa Medal and the King’s South Africa Medal with the NATAL clasp. The list of names has, as a written addition to the heading, ‘and A.V.C.’ and these same initials are marked against a few of the names on the list, including the name ‘462 S.S. Thomas C.B.’
Great-uncle Ben’s much younger half-brother Cecil Clement Thomas (b. Dec. 1879) was also in the South African war. He joined the Worcestershire Regiment in April 1897 (under age) and went with the 2nd Bn to South Africa, arriving in Jan. 1900, and took part in the defence of Worcester Kopjies in February. On 18 March he wrote to his father:
“I had the nearest escape as ever I shall have they put two rifle Bullets through my helmet and one through the back of my coat, After we had been out fighting 17 hrs we retired to camp at 10.20 I then volunteered to go out and fetch the wounded in we were out about 5 hrs hunting the kopjies for the wounded we brought in about 40 men we had to leave some who were wounded to die on the Hills as the Boers were on our track we then had to walk 14 miles to Arundel without having abit to eat the hole time so you can tell what warfare is like.” (Apparently his schooling did not include punctuation!) Fortunately his father kept this and a couple of other letters from Cecil.
The Queen’s South Africa Medal was awarded to "4857 Pte Thomas C." There’s a note against his name: “To England 16.7.00”, but unfortunately that is the last I have been able to find about him.
I have posted separate messages in the Medals and General fora, and hope that someone more expert than I am can explain the meaning of "A.V.C." and suggest where else I should look to find what became of 20-year-old Cecil Thomas.
ahthomas
