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Dear David

I have subscribed to Ancestry and found the medal roll of the Worcestershire Regiments.
File image 172 is the opening image of the 2nd Battn Mounted Infantry roll.
Brown 4814 is on image 174 and the casualties tie in exactly with those noted by Lt Lambton in his diary.
What this roll does not show is which members were transferred from the 1st Worcestershires and which from the 2nd.

Does this help?

Regards
Chris

Dear David

I have subscribed to Ancestry and found the medal roll.
More than that, Image 172 is the start of the 2nd Worcestershires Mounted Infantry and the names of the casualties correspond to the ones given in Lt Lambton's diary!!!

Good Afternoon Chris - shortly after I wrote my previous comment I disappeared down a rabbit hole of confusion regarding the Medal Rolls for the 2nd Worcesters.

Having now let my brain defog and helped by the knowledge you have subscribed to Ancestry there seem to be some 89 pages of them under WO 100/184 starting at page 117 and ending at page 205.

Page 117-119 dated 1 Aug 1901 covers officers but pages 117 & 118 are duplicates - so that is 40 officers which do not include your Captain Lambton. The rank & file dated 1 Aug 1901 starts on page 120 and ends on page 171 (with pages 170 & 171 being duplicates). With 20 to a page that means about 1000 of whom 81 have the accolade "To 5th MI".

Page 172 is dated 1 Aug 1901 and contains the names of 6 officers including your Captain Lambton. Besides 2nd Battalion Worcester Regt it also has Mounted Infantry written at the top. This is followed by 12 pages (173-184) of rank and file, also dated 1 August 1901 but no Mounted Infantry written at the top - these 12 pages contain about 225 names and include the 81 in the previous set. The 81 have only State Clasps except for Wittenbergen, the other 140ish tend to have a more "exotic" set of clasps.

Then on page 185 we have 2 more officers and a private - this odds and ends one is dated 12 September 1901.

Then on page 187 we have another set of rank & file 2nd Worcesters dated 8 June 1903 which ends on page 205. On page 206 the 3rd Worcesters start.

I presume pages 172 to 184 are the mounted infantry you are interested in but I am not entirely sure. If this is the case two of my 2nd Worcester Smethwickians served in the MI - their service records (findable on Find My Past) give no indication they served in the MI although one did do an MI instruction course in 1893 and was awarded an MI Certificate.

I also have 11 Smethwickian 1st Battalion Worcesters - none of the Medal Roll pages they appear on show anybody bearing the "To 5th MI" accolade.

I hope this helps rather than confuses - my headache has just returned.

Regards, David.

Good morning Chris (the most important bit of this communication is at the very end with apologies for my aged brain being so slow in making the connection),

I see our previous comments crossed in the post but we are in agreement regarding the Medal Roll for the Mounted Infantry Section of the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.

From Shipping Records to be found on this site: The 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment sailed for S Africa on 17th December 1899 aboard the Tintagel Castle and they consisted of 21 Officers, 1 Warrant Officer, 945 men and 3 horses.

From the Liverpool Daily Post of 5th January 1900: The Mounted Infantry Section of the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment sailed for South Africa aboard the British Princess on 6th January 1900 and consisted of 4 Officers, 136 NCO’s & men and 117 horses.

The 2nd Battalion Mounted Infantry Medal Roll lists 6 officers and 227 NCO’s & men. 81 of these also appear on the Unmounted Medal Roll but were transferred across – interestingly 136 plus 81 = 217 indicating perhaps there were other unrecorded transferees or possibly reinforcements sent out from the UK.

Using my membership of Find My Past I have found the service records for a small random scattering of the 227 and they all appear to have been members of the 2nd Worcesters and sailed for S Africa on 17th December 1899 or 6th January 1900.

My two Smethwickians (both qualifying by birth) who appear on the MI Medal Roll, namely 3832 John Ball & 3265 William Mallin, both sailed to S Africa on 6th January 1900.

My random selection brought me joy as one has now been added to my Smethwickian database – 4015 Thomas Bird, although born in neighbouring Handsworth when he attested in 1894 he gave the address of his next of kin (father Thomas, mother Maria, brother William & sister Annie) as 74 Windmill Lane (very much part of my stamping ground during my formative years), Smethwick and I have now found him & family on the 1891 & 1911 Censuses living elsewhere in Smethwick. He sailed for S Africa on 6th January 1900 and on 10th May 1900 received a GSW to the right leg whilst in action at Sand River. Does he get a mention in Lambton’s diary?

The 1st Battalion did not sail for S Africa until March 1900 and I can find no reference to them having a Mounted Infantry section so I am interested in why you introduced them to the conversation – Lambton’s diary?

Looking at the officers on the MI Medal Roll I have just noticed the initials of the writer of your diary!!!!!!!!!! - you might be interested in this photograph I took on 11th June 2022 only 16 miles from where I now live in Pembrokeshire, South-west Wales - Best regards, David.

Dear David

I can't thank you enough for your contribution to my curiosity!

I have Lambton's diary until the 10.05.1900. Sent to me by Lt. Col C.P. Love who was the archivist for the regiment in 2005. His email address does not function in 2024!!
Ancestry isn't the easiest to navigate to the page wanted with little experience with the system. I'm boggled at the detail you have regarding shipping and the like.

My grandparents bought the farm in 1925 and this single grave known only as "The Englishman's grave" piqued my curiosity. Hence my correspondence with Love in 2005 after finding G. Brown in Watt's list. By a process of elimination 4818 was settled. So much has been added since and I have managed a few QSA's to men who were on the farm from other units. G.Brown has come to light being in fact John Brown!!! He comes alive.
I need to find his attestation papers to build a family tree.

It took me a while to realise that Smethwick is not your surname. I'm Chris Roux as an aside. Somehow we should trade email address as the attempts I've made to attach the casualty list hasn't been possible. File too big. I dont know how to make it smaller.'

Thank you for the memorial plaque of Lambton.!!! Fascinating. I have a picture of two officers on our verandah. One could be him!!

Regards
Chris

This is a poor quality photo of George Charles Lambton but obviously taken some time after he wrote the diary:



He had aristocratic connections through both his parents. He was one of three brothers who fought in the ABW, the other two did not live to tell the tale. A fourth and younger brother died whilst serving in WW1 but not through enemy action.

You will find this link interesting:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/17-memorials-...-war-memorials#83736

Thanks for your email address - I will email you this evening.

Regards, David