TOPIC:

Hello : I'm working on a book, part of which involves my paternal grandfather John Lish Clarke (1880-1972) who fought in the South African War. I'm managed to piece together some snippets of information which I've compressed into a short paragraph :

"Grandfather enlisted in the Volunteer Service Company, Northumberland Fusiliers, February 12 1901, seeing action in South Africa in the Second Boer War (11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902). In May 1902 he elected to remain in South Africa rather than return to England with his regiment, and was discharged at Green Point Camp, Cape Town. He promptly joined the Colonial Light Horse, and may have been involved in the fighting against the Boer commando units who were ignoring the ceasefire near Fraserburg, where he was again discharged on 30 June 1902 in order to transfer to the Western Province Mounted Rifles, which he successfully did only to be discharged again on August 25 1902 at Worcester, South Africa, because the unit was disbanded."

I'd like to fill this out a little if possible and if anyone has any pointers I'd be grateful. My grandfather did teach me a song that he said was popular with the troops in S. Africa called "Tricks of Johnny Boer" which I can provide to anyone interested. I thought it a bit long to add to this post.

I would be very interested to see the words of your song you learnt from your grandfather.

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Do not trust him gentle soldier,
When the white flag flies on high,
As a token of surrender,
Since he’s not prepared to die.
When you see his shining Mauser,
In the other hand he’s got,
With the sights fixed at your distance,
Gentle solder trust him not.
Do not trust him gentle soldier,
When his farm you go to see,
To obtain a little forage,
If you wear the A.S.C.
When you look inside his stable,
Bales of something there's a lot,
And he says it's only sheep’s wool,
Gentle soldier trust him not.
Do not trust him gentle soldier,
When he hands you in his gun,
And declares with charming candour,
That it is the only one.
When you look inside his garden,
Full of buried pom-pom shot,
Nestling close a planted Mauser,
Gentle soldier trust him not.

Welcome to the Forum, Patjk,

Your gf had the service number 8970 and is listed on page 16 of the medal roll for the 1st VS Northumberland Fusiliers (WO100/169)

He is ticked for the Cape Colony clasp but this is crossed through and not says 'further information required re clasps'.

It looks like this was issued to him.



He is listed on the supplementary roll (p88) for the clasps South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902. A note says 'Volunteer to England'.

There are no attestation papers for him for the CLH or WPMR as he probably returned too late.

A man of this name served in the Great War 13 December 1914 to 29 December 1917 as 10517 Cpl in the 12th Royal Fusiliers. His pension papers are online and available at cost from Ancestry or FMP.

Best wishes
David

Thank djb! Yes, my grandfather did serve in WWI and was wounded in 1915 on the Somme. I have a number of documents relative to his service in S. Africa. I'm not certain how many attachments I provide at a time, but as a sample I'll provide one.

Sorry. Left the image off!