TOPIC:

Hi Alison
With regard to the tattoos.
My interpretation reads.....and this is only my opinion after my dates debacle.
Heart - Left Forearm.
DR + Dot Back of Left Hand.
LD / AD ? Right Forearm.
As for the hieroglyphics at the bottom + Left Two..........I have absolutely no idea.






Best wishes

Dave

Dave

I think it is Vac for vaccination scar.

Pete

Nice one Pete
That makes sense.

Dave, Pete,

It is a lot easier to read when someone has already translated it!

I have certainly seen other reports of dot(s) on the back of hands and on thumbs.

Those other tattoos must have been very common for them to be able to abbreviate them but what they were is very unclear.

Alison,

Certainly not a naive question.

I wonder if the two departure points were because both battalions were in SA at the same time?

www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/im...nits/534-black-watch

In September 1901, when Botha was threatening Natal, the 2nd battalion Black Watch was hurried through the Drakensberg mountains to guard the drifts about the Natal border. Afterwards a part of it was on the Standerton-Ermelo blockhouse line, while some companies were employed under Rimington and other column commanders in the great drives in the Heilbron-Harrismith district between 5th and 28th February 1902.
Harrismith is around 82 miles from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal,
Helibron is approx. 177 miles from Ladysmith, Ladysmith to Port Natal (Durban) 153 miles approx. I guess if Private Roy was with part of the above battalion he was certainly closer to Port Natal as opposed to Cape Town.