TOPIC:

I hope that you will be able to help me. An elderly friend of my late parents has been talking to me recently. When she found out that I have been researching my family tree, she began to talk about her maternal grandfather whom she believed had been killed in the Boer War but knew nothing about him other than his surname, Wilkinson.

After some research I found out that he was James Wilkinson, born in about 1879 in Haslingden Lancashire. He married in February 1901 and his daughter was born in about 1902.

I would very much like to be able to tell her a little more about her Grandfather but I don't know where to start looking and would greatly appreciate some push in the right direction.

JAFFASMUM
A very quick glance at the Palmer Casualty roll shows quite a few "J.WILKINSONS" listed for the ABW. First of all, I would suggest, is to try and find out the unit he served with. Is his medal still with the family (if so, huge help to you). If he married in 2/1901, clearly his loss would have been sometime later and more info is needed for any sort of meaningful reply.
Good luck
IL.

We get this sort of thing an awful lot on here, I always think the best thing to do is start at the very beginning, you mention "after some research" perhaps you could tell us what exactly that was, do you know his wife's name, the date and place of marriage and the name of his daughter, was she baptised, if so, do you know where?
Can you say why your elderly friend thought he had been killed in the Anglo Boer War?
The first thing to establish beyond reasonable doubt is his family and an area in which they came from and lived in at the turn of the last century.

JAFFASMUM wrote: I hope that you will be able to help me. An elderly friend of my late parents has been talking to me recently. When she found out that I have been researching my family tree, she began to talk about her maternal grandfather whom she believed had been killed in the Boer War but knew nothing about him other than his surname, Wilkinson.

After some research I found out that he was James Wilkinson, born in about 1879 in Haslingden Lancashire. He married in February 1901 and his daughter was born in about 1902.

I would very much like to be able to tell her a little more about her Grandfather but I don't know where to start looking and would greatly appreciate some push in the right direction.

Thank you for your prompt reply.
I found out about James Wilkinson from my research on 'Ancestry' (of which I have been a subscriber for a good number of years)

He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire in about 1879
He married May Edmundson on 9th February 1901 at The Parish Church Haslingden, Lancashire he was then 22 years old and a Bachelor, his job was recorded as a weaver.
At the time of his marriage he was living at 6 Back High Street Haslingden.
On the record of the marriage the space for his father's name has been scored through i.e. no name.
Their daughter, Elizabeth Ann Wilkinson, was born in the 3rd Quarter of 1901.

The lady for whom I am looking into the details of her Grandfather's death was always told that he had been killed in the Boer War. Her Grandmother later remarried in 1906.

Of course I realise that it is possible that his death has been told as being in the course of fighting for his country and it is not true. However I can see no reason why this is so.

My friend said that her Mother used to have a 'silk ribbon' commemorating him but she doesn't know what happened to this.
Is it possible that he was in one of the Lancashire Regiments ?

Thank you again for your reply. Ann Sutcliffe

Hello Ann

The marriage and birth dates provide a date bracket to search in.

Using the Boer War Register to search surname, initial and year of casualty there is one J Wilkinson fatal casualty in 1901 and 1902:

Lance-Corporal 5925 JB Wilkinson 3 Battalion The Manchester Regiment Wounds - Died on 21/08/1901 at Heen En Weer. Entitled to Cape Colony, Orange Free State and SA 1901.

Private 7524 J Wilkinson 3 Volunteer Service Company The East Lancashire Regiment
Died on 25/06/1902 at Heilbron. Entitled to Cape Colony, Orange Free State and SA 1902 - disembarked Cape Town April 1902.

As papers for deceased soldiers were not retained it is highly unlikely you will find any on findmypast.co.uk but it is worth a look.

It is worth checking local newspapers for reports of their death.

Good luck.

Meurig

Okay, well you seem to have his exact identity wrapped up so you need to establish that he not only served in South Africa, but, was actually killed there too.
There are a great many men of that surname, who also have the initial J and who served in the war, however, upon looking at published casualties, there appears to be nobody who was actually killed who would fit in, i.e. these men lost their life in 1900 and not 1901 or 1902, other than those Meurig mentions.
Whilst there are certainly odd omissions and errors, my own feeling is that, given the state of things, his marriage to his wife, his daughter and life at home, he would have been unlikely to have been killed in South Africa.
However, people seldom just disappear, I take it you have looked for his death in Great Britain.