TOPIC:

Hot on the heels of Rory's excellent post on a Trumpeter in Bethune's Mounted Infantry, I thought I would share an unusual pair that resides in my collection.




Lawson Friday attested for service in Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry at the age of 23 on 20th October 1899 and was discharged as Medically Unfit on 4 December 1899. his Nominal Roll entry lists his number as 1127 and rank of Bugler. There is also a note in the left hand page " also Natal Carbs.

Scanning the Medal Roll for T.M.I., there are 8 Buglers listed, one Bugler D. Cumming being killed at Spion Kop and another noted as " no medal"
A scare rank and different to that of Trumpeter, although it would appear that some Regiments used Bugler whilst others used Trumpeter, I would imagine the roll played by both was exactly the same. There is a cross reference in the remarks column to his service in Natal Carbineers.

He obviously missed the engagements at Colenso and Spion Kop, but still earned his medal and five clasps which was issued to Cape Town on 29 April 1905.

He attested in the Natal Carbineers on 31 May 1901 and was discharged 31 May 1902. He appears on the Supplementary Medal Roll for the Natal Carbineers with the issue of the South Africa 1901 clasp. There is a cross reference in the remarks column to his service in T.M.I.

A nice double issue to a Colonial, who despite the careful annotations of the clerks in charge of the medal rolls, still earned two medals.

It would appear that he stayed on in the Natal Carbineers as there is a L. Friday on the Natal 1906 medal roll, would be nice to find that and re-unite the group

Regards
Jon

Wonderful and very scarce pair John!

You most likely already know this but he was born Lawson Springfield Friday in 1876 and was a Durban-based Decorator by trade.

Regards and please post more of your medals - there are too few of us willing to share what we have with others.

Regards

Rory

Jon
The Droogleever book "Thorneycroft's Unbuttoned" comments that Bugler Friday served in D Coy., of TMI. And also served in the Zulu Rebellion, 1906. You have shown a very nice example of a "double issue".
Regards
IL.

Regarding bugles and trumpets, the infantry used Buglers whilst the cavalry tended to use Trumpeters, the latter, in particular, certainly had a very important roll to play simply because commands had to be sounded rather than given verbally both prior to and upon joining in battle.
Certainly, from memory, at least, whilst a Relief of Ladysmith clasp could be issued for service from the 15th of December 1899, the Tugela Heights clasp could certainly not have been, moreover, it could only have been issued for service from mid February the following year, from the 14th I think, then you would have similar issues with the remaining clasps, they simply could not have been earned by a man who had been discharged in 1899.
Given that Friday served in the Natal Carbineers from the 31st of May 1901 to Vereeniging only, I would have to say on the balance of probability, WO127 must be wrong, what does WO126/142-144 have to say?

crypt wrote: Hot on the heels of Rory's excellent post on a Trumpeter in Bethune's Mounted Infantry, I thought I would share an unusual pair that resides in my collection.

Lawson Friday attested for service in Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry at the age of 23 on 20th October 1899 and was discharged as Medically Unfit on 4 December 1899. his Nominal Roll entry lists his number as 1127 and rank of Bugler. There is also a note in the left hand page " also Natal Carbs.

Scanning the Medal Roll for T.M.I., there are 8 Buglers listed, one Bugler D. Cumming being killed at Spion Kop and another noted as " no medal"
A scare rank and different to that of Trumpeter, although it would appear that some Regiments used Bugler whilst others used Trumpeter, I would imagine the roll played by both was exactly the same. There is a cross reference in the remarks column to his service in Natal Carbineers.

He obviously missed the engagements at Colenso and Spion Kop, but still earned his medal and five clasps which was issued to Cape Town on 29 April 1905.

He attested in the Natal Carbineers on 31 May 1901 and was discharged 31 May 1902. He appears on the Supplementary Medal Roll for the Natal Carbineers with the issue of the South Africa 1901 clasp. There is a cross reference in the remarks column to his service in T.M.I.

A nice double issue to a Colonial, who despite the careful annotations of the clerks in charge of the medal rolls, still earned two medals.

It would appear that he stayed on in the Natal Carbineers as there is a L. Friday on the Natal 1906 medal roll, would be nice to find that and re-unite the group

Regards
Jon

Jon
I agree with Rory. You have wonderful medals in your collection, and there must be many forum members who would like to see more of them.
Regards
Brett

Jon
A little whimsy on my part:


As a matter of interest, I did count eight buglers on the TMI roll with RofL entitlement and another with State Clasps only.
Regards
IL.