TOPIC:

David - I was a little carried away by my own eloquence - checking I received 146 hits and on closer examination there is some duplication, as one would expect, and 10 rather than 15 were associated with the Second Boer War. The fashion seems to have been started at the Battle of Waterloo by the Commander of the British 2nd Division and the 19th President (to be) repeated the feat during the American Civil War. Think I might do a post on it.

From Fold3 Malcolm Hardy left the 1st Dragoons by purchase on January 20th 1883.

So definitely the same man when you look at his answer to Q11 on his IY attestation papers.

In my history of him I should have included what his IY attestation papers, service record and discharge papers tell us. They add another occupation for a start - Cabinet Maker - so a Jack of all trades.

His service in the 1st Dragoon Guards makes him a possible candidate for participation in the Zulu Wars & even more so the First Boer War. From Wikipedia:

"A detachment of the regiment was responsible for the capture of King Cetshwayo at the Battle of Ulundi in July 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War and the regiment saw action again at the Battle of Laing's Nek in January 1881 during the First Boer War."

So did he go into battle with the IY crying "Remember Mujaba Hill!"

As a coal-miner and son of a coal-miner where did he get the wherewithal to purchase his release from the Army? Did he have a benefactor? Was Mrs Alexander his Miss Haversham? Think I might be getting a bit carried away again.

I said he had no connection with Edinburgh and that area. Further examination of the PFT on Ancestry, which appears to have been created by the great-great-granddaughter of one of Malcolm's younger brothers, shows his mother was Marian McPherson (born in County Durham) but her coal miner father was born in West Lothian.

The creator of the PFT has found a record of the birth of a Malcolm Hardy being registered in the Auckland Registration district in Q1 1856. Auckland as in Bishop Auckland, County Durham rather than NZ. This would make him 5 at the time of the 1861 census and 15 at the time of the 1871 census so is almost certainly the same man. As 6 weeks were allowed in those days for registration of births (as they are now) that means he could have been born in the last few weeks of 1855. The 1921 Census was held late and in the middle of June - so his 64 years 5 months would make him born in Jan/Feb 1857. I suspect his memory/knowledge let him down on his years and he was most probably born second half Jan/first half Feb 1856.

An intriguing man.

Thank you to everyone who has helped. I now have a much better picture of Malcolm Hardy. Now to find the mysterious Mrs. Alexander...
cheers, Meadowfield