TOPIC:

Hello, I'm an American novice researcher looking for information on my Great Uncle, Morrison Colyer Woodard. Family lore has it that he was somewhat of an adventurer and had volunteered for service in the Boer War. That was all the info I had. My research stateside has led me to an entry in one of his college-related books that listed him as having served "as a private in Colonel Court's Flying Column during the Boer War." This is the only information I have. I notice on this site that there is an entry for "M. C. Woodard" attached to Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard but I am not sure this is the one. Can't find anything on Col. Court unless this is a misspelling. Thanks for reading this. I would really appreciate some help. Dan Woodard

Woodard is not a very common surname, I've never come across it before.

Possibly Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington? He was born Charles à Court, and "The name of Repington, under the terms of an old will, was assumed by all the à Courts in turn as they succeeded to the Amington Hall Estate, and I followed the rule when my father died in 1903."
So it would seem that he served in the ABW as Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court.

There are 7 Woodard's listed in Find My Past but none with the correct initials......

Mike

1600 Private M C Woodard is very clearly shown in WO100/264 as being discharged from the regiment as medically unfit for service, his medal and clasp appear to have been returned the mint on the 5th of January 1909, he does appear to be the only man with that surname and initials on the medal roll, if he had left the Cape Colony after or during the war, it could certainly be a reason that his medal was returned I suppose.
More information required!

[email protected] wrote: Hello, I'm an American novice researcher looking for information on my Great Uncle, Morrison Colyer Woodard. Family lore has it that he was somewhat of an adventurer and had volunteered for service in the Boer War. That was all the info I had. My research stateside has led me to an entry in one of his college-related books that listed him as having served "as a private in Colonel Court's Flying Column during the Boer War." This is the only information I have. I notice on this site that there is an entry for "M. C. Woodard" attached to Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard but I am not sure this is the one. Can't find anything on Col. Court unless this is a misspelling. Thanks for reading this. I would really appreciate some help. Dan Woodard

Thanks very much to Frank Kelly, QSAMIKE, and BereniceUK for your response to my query. I got called away and did not answer right away but I really, really appreciated all of you taking the time and effort to try and help me out. What I take from all this is that Morrison Colyer Woodard indeed was a private at some point during the war and was ultimately discharged as medically unfit. My unsubstantiated belief is that his discharge probably had something to do with his left foot, a piece of which was amputated in his teens as a result of a train accident. I know he walked with a slight limp for his entire adult life. I understand from Frank Kelly that his discharge shown in WO100/264 but I don't understand the meaning of the "1600" before his name?? I also am happy for the clue from BereniceUK regarding my search for info on "Colonel Court's Flying Column." I shall focus on the Repington angle and try to find whether he had a relationship with "Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard" to which Private Woodard was said to be attached. Thanks for all your help. You folks are great. Dan Woodard

[email protected] wrote: I understand from Frank Kelly that his discharge shown in WO100/264 but I don't understand the meaning of the "1600" before his name??

Privates and N.C.O.s were all given a service number (example below) and "a service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military."



Going off at a tangent, completely unrelated to this thread, I hadn't realised that the US military did away with service numbers in 1974, replacing them with individuals' Social Security numbers. Followed by "Effective June 2011, the US military has introduced a plan to eliminate the use of Social Security Numbers on military and dependent ID cards, and replace them with a service number, in an effort to prevent identity theft against members of the armed services. All members are expected to have been granted the new service number by June 2015." (Wikipedia)