TOPIC:

He was mentioned in despatches for his Boer War service. MID LG: 10 September 1901, page: 5966.



There is some information on the APOC during the Boer War here: www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/im...my-post-office-corps

Karen and others interested
Regarding that third medal on S/M Yardley's chest, the more I look at the pic, the more that I realise that No.3 has a suspension bar; whereas the militia LSGC has a loop. In regard to Smethwick's suggestion, I would put forward No.3 medal being the circular Volunteer LSM (awarded after 1894 and before 1908) for twenty years' (phew) service. Clearly some of that would have been prior to 1894. And the "oval" medal effect on Karen's excellent pic is due to the No.3 medal being twisted slightly.
Anyway, it hardly matters at this point. S/M Yardley has left behind a great illustration of himself and others of his day and I should ask Karen if she has custody of his medals?
Regards
IL.

Thanks so much David, really appreciate you looking at this for me, especially the medal details.
Kind regards
Karen

This is brilliant, thanks for the images.
Karen

Top image analysis, thank you!
Re. the medals - sadly no, not in my custody. TBH he is fairly distantly connected - his daughter Ida was married to my granduncle. But I loved the photo and wanted to do it (and him) justice with accurate information. I'm a retired librarian - old habits die hard .
Karen

My observations about the photo :

Photo
* very likely a detail from a sergeants' mess group, as suggested by Dave, with the sergeant-major (Yardley) sitting front row centre, flanked by two staff sergeants; the fact they're sitting in front of a tent suggests that the photo was probably taken at an annual training camp.

Uniforms
* uniforms were probably dark green, with black rank badges;
* the pillbox caps, the frogging on the tunics, and the polished leather cross-belts, complete with whistles and chains, appear to be dress items reserved for staff sergeants and sergeants-major, i.e. rank/status indicators;
* the four-chevron badges indicate staff sergeants, and the indistinct badge above Yardley's would indicate that he was a sergeant-major;
* the three-chevron badges are the sergeant's rank badge;
* the stars worn by the two sergeants on the ground are 'efficiency stars', each awarded after a certain number of years efficient service;
* the crossed rifles badge is a shooting badge (I think it indicated the best shot in the company for the year concerned).

Medals
* Yardley's third medal has a straight bar suspender, so not the Militia LSGC, more likely the Volunteer Long Service Medal (the PO Rifles were a volunteer corps, not militia);
* the VLSM, which was current from 1894 to 1908, required 20 years service;
* his full group would then be : Egypt Medal, Queen's SA Medal, Volunteer LSM, Khedive's Star;
* the others are wearing Queen's SA Medals only.