TOPIC:

I believe that G Thompson with service number 2833 in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon QSA medal register is my great-grandfather.

George Ernest Thompson was born in 1867 in Shoreditch London. I have been told service number 2833 corresponds to an enlistment between Feb and April 1888. He was certainly in the Preston Cavalry Barracks Brighton three years later on census night 1891 as a 22 years old Private in the 6th Inniskillings. He would have reached 7 years with the regulars between Feb and April 1895 but appears not to have transferred to the reserve as in 1897 he was still a Private in the 6th Inniskillings and was in Dundalk, Ireland (daughter's birth certificate).

He is also recorded as a Private in the 6th Inniskillings in official records in March 1901 (census night - he was in London staying with his elderly parents) and in May 1901 (birth of son in Brighton). He was no longer a soldier in March 1902 when he finally got married in Brighton, he was working as a domestic valet by then.

So he started in the Inniskillings between Feb to April 1888 and came out some time between May 1901 and March 1902. He would have done 12 years in the regulars and then a further extension of 12 months as there was a state of war and he may have been in South Africa when he became time expired after 12 years in Feb to April 1900.

Could he have been in South Africa for only a short stint of only around 9 months and got the QSA with 3 clasps (Cape Colony, OFS and Transvaal)? He could have arrived in South Africa with the main body of the 6th Inniskillings in November 1899. Entitlement to the Transvaal claps started on the 24th May 1900. If George was indeed the father of my grandfather he would have been back in the UK by mid-August 1900. He was definitely in the UK on 31st March 1901 for the 1901 census.

He would have become time-expired again after 13 years of service in Feb to April 1901, although he is still recorded as a Private in the 6th Inniskillings in May 1901 when his son was born.

Hope someone can help.

Yes he is there...…

Thompson,G.,4694,Private,2nd Dragoons,Cape Colony,OFS,Transvaal.
Thompson,G.,3716,Private,5th Dragoon Guards, OFS, Transvaal, Tugela Heights,Relief of Ladysmith. Earned Tugela Heights & Relief of Ladysmith as
Servant to Captain Stuart
Thompson,G.,5689,Private,5th Lancers, Cape Colony,Rhodesia,Talana,1901,1902. Arrived in S.A. after 15/07/01
Thompson,G.,2833,Private,6th Dragoons, Cape Colony, OFS, Transvaal.
Thompson,G.,3383,Private,6th Dragoons, Cape Colony, OFS.
Thompson,G.,4616,Private,9th Lancers, Cape Colony,1901,1902. Landed in S.A. after 15/07/01

and from Find My Past......

First name(s) G
Last name Thompson
Service number 2833
Rank Private
Regiment 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons
Biography -
Notes
QSA Clasps: CC,OFS,T
Country Great Britain
Record set Anglo-Boer War Records 1899-1902
Category Military Service & Conflict
Subcategory Boer Wars
Collections from Great Britain, UK

Yes that's right. I believe that 2833 is my great-grandfather. The other G Thompson with number 3383 would have been enlisted in circa 1894 which was too late for my GGF.

Could my GGF have arrived in November 1899 and returned to the UK in the summer of 1900 after only about 8 or 9 months? His 12 years in the regulars expired in Feb to April 1900 but he must have still been in SA in late May 1900 to qualify for the Transvaal clasp. I believe he was back in the UK by August 1900. It seems his engagement with the army was extended by a year while he was in SA but he was shipped back to the UK during that extension, perhaps on a ship returning to the UK after delivering fresh troops.