I'm interested in this forum because of several family members who served in the Boer War. My mother's grandfather signed up to the 8th Hussars in 1900. He also served in the Great War and I have his sign-up papers and full service history. On the other side of the family a great-uncle joined the Connaught Rangers for a 21 year term and served first in South Africa and later many other places including Mesopotamia in the Great War.
In particular, I have some research to do regarding other family members. My mother recently gave me a number of documents and papers that had been given to her by an aunt. One of these is a silver leaves card. It says "To my dear sister" and is addressed on the back "Sarah". This suggests that the sister in law of the Connaught Rangers man had a brother who also fought in South Africa. She had two brothers, James Cardiff (born 1878, Dublin) and John Cardiff (born 1886, Dublin). My grandmother had a photo of a man in a sailors uniform and said it was the brother Jack so presumably the younger one was not in the army, although I haven't found any documents proving he was in the navy either. I can't find any service records for either a James or John Cardiff. John married very late - in 1921 - suggesting he could have signed up for a twenty one year service. I haven't been able to find trace of the eldest brother James, although it is known in the family what happened to all other siblings and their descendants were known to my grandmother.
What would be the systematic way to work through the records to try and prove James of John (let's presume my grandmother could have made a mistaken identification) served in the Boer War? I did a google search and amazingly can't seem to find whether the QSA and KSA medal rolls are online or not. Forces War Records seems to give the impression they have them but it is not clear. I checked FMP's "Anglo-Boer War records 1899-1902" without success. Thanks.
