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Hi ,
I am new on this forum and am doing research into my Grandfather( by marriage) William Joseph Cook's service in the Anglo Boer War. He was with the 1st City Volunteers with reg no1419 and signed up for the Marshall's Horse on 04/02/1902 reg no 21471. What I am trying to find is 1) sign up papers for the 1st City Volunteers? possibly with a birthplace as all we have is that he was born in England 15/07/1881, emigrated to South Africa and both his parents had died by the time he was 12 yrs old. 2) are there a records of service for the Marshalls Horse during the time they were operational in the Cape Colony from February 1901- June 1902 as we are not sure how long he was with the unit. 3) on an Ancestry free weekend I found among the UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls WO 100 248 for the 1st City Volunteers that there are two date clasps awarded to him , are these attached to the same ribbon that has the Cape Colony clasp?
My husband is putting together a trip to the Eastern Cape and is wanting to do a horse ride along the route in which several of the skirmishes took place to try and retrace his Grandfathers ride with the Marshall's Horse hence the records of service as all he has to go by is what is written in the history books.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks
Elaine Cook

Cook appears to have joined Marshall's Horse on the 4th of February 1901 in Grahamstown whilst a serving member of the Grahamstown Volunteers, so nothing unusual whatsoever, so many did from both the Uitenhage and Grahamstown Volunteers, the best thing to do next, would be to check for any surviving rank and file papers in WO126/89-90 at Kew.

Hi Frank,

Many thanks for your reply and the info. We live in SA so unfortunately Kew is out of reach. Are there no discharge papers or service records online ?

Many Thanks again

Elaine

Generally speaking, no, although bits of certain parts of WO126 can be found, either transcribed or actually copied.