Hello George,
Well if you know that he was born in 1882 and came from Canning Town, he will be your man, just to be quite clear on this, to be embodied, simply means he was called up for actual service between the dates stated, so he did indeed serve during the Anglo Boer War, but, not on campaign in South Africa, Militia Battalions were normally used to replace Army Battalions that had been sent down to South Africa, although, some did go down there too, these latter were normally used as garrison troops, which, in turn, released men, who could then be deployed onto the veldt.
Regards Frank
iamtheoldcodger wrote: yes this is the right person James Cowland