TOPIC:

hi all,
my name is George i am 67 years old and paralysed after two strokes i live in the u.k and write a lot under my name the old codger. i have been trying to get help re my great grandfather his name on my Nan's birth certificate is James cowland, he is in the 1st essex regiment at the time 1902, i do not have any more info on him but i know he lived in east London i can,t find his age but their is a James born in 1894 but he could not be my Nn's father at that age, however their is a William James Cowland. i would love to find out if he served in the Boar war and what happened to him i hope all that read the forum do not mind me posting this
george

There was certainly a James Cowland, an eighteen year old labourer from Canning Town who joined the Militia and was posted to the 4th Essex Regiment as number 8086 Private, on the 21st of November 1900, embodied for service on the 9th of January 1901 and disembodied on the 8th of July 1901, so did certainly serve during the Anglo Boer War.

iamtheoldcodger wrote: hi all,
my name is George i am 67 years old and paralysed after two strokes i live in the u.k and write a lot under my name the old codger. i have been trying to get help re my great grandfather his name on my Nan's birth certificate is James cowland, he is in the 1st essex regiment at the time 1902, i do not have any more info on him but i know he lived in east London i can,t find his age but their is a James born in 1894 but he could not be my Nn's father at that age, however their is a William James Cowland. i would love to find out if he served in the Boar war and what happened to him i hope all that read the forum do not mind me posting this
george

thanks for that Frank, i will now dig deeper into his life and see his war records if they still have them, it looks a very short time but there must be a reason why i also do not have what he did after
thanks again
george

Hello George,
So are you saying this particular James Cowland is actually or likely to be the man in question?
Regards Frank Kelley

yes this is the right person James Cowland

Hello George

There is no J Cowland 8086 Essex Rgt on the medal rolls. The 4th bn do not appear to have served en bloc in SA, there is only a handful of men on the roll who served attached to the Mounted Infantry. Embodiment doesn't necessarily mean overseas service. In Col GJ Hay's Epitomized History of the Militia: The Constitutional Force (1908) no overseas service is shown for the 4th bn.

Regards
Meurig