TOPIC:

My name is Walter (Canada) and I am semi-retired. I am conducting genealogy research on the British branch of the family tree. I have just yesterday found (via a snippet on a newspaper archive website) that a great uncle, Dr. Percival Bayley, served for the British in the Boer War. He was born in Northampton in 1871. I then searched & found reference to a P. Bayley on Ancestry.com. UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949. This P. Bayley with shown rank as "Civil Surgeon" served in South Africa - Second Boer War in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The form he appears on is titled "Roll of Individuals entitled to the South Africa Medal & Clasps, under the Army Order granting the Medal, issued on 1st April, 1901". It shows that he was entitled to the medal as well as the Transvaal clasp. There is a stamp at the the top of the image that says " No. 6 General Hospital Johannesburg". Also in the remarks column is handwritten notation: " Engaged locally to Krugensdorp 16-3-01"
Can anyone advise my how I would be able to confirm (enlistment record?) that this "P. Bayley" is in fact my great uncle?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I also have another ancestor, my grandfather Harold Bayley, for whom I am trying to confirm where and when he served in South Africa. His 1940 obituary states that:
"...He came to Canada in 1883 and took up farming at Emerson, Manitoba, returning in 1888 to England and then going to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he spent three and a half years in the Mounted Police. From South Africa he again journeyed to Canada, returning again to England in 1899..."
Can anyone advise my how I would be able to find the service record of my grandfather Harold Bayley between years of 1888 to 1899?
Again, any information would be greatly appreciated.

Picture.....

H Bailey, who might be your man, enlisted in the Natal Police as Trooper on 3/4/1894 (No. 1358). There will be some additional information about him in the Pietermaritzburg Archives.
In 1894, the Natal Mounted Police, which had been formed in 1874, was combined with other law-enforcement agencies in the Colony of Natal to form the Natal Police. Both the NMP and NP recruited many men in Britain.

Brett