TOPIC:

For the particular attention of David (Smethwick).

While browsing through the Medal Rolls for Kitchener's Horse yesterday, I came across the above mentioned fellow.
He served with KH from 9th February 1900 until 15th June 1901 and received the QSA (which I do not have)with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal. The Cape Colony clasp being issued off the D.E.O.V.R. roll as no. 4329.

His next of kin was: Mrs.F. Steele of 8 Edith Road, Cape Hill, Smethwick, Birmingham.

I just wondered if you had his name on your radar for men who served in SA who had the Smethwick connection.

Enjoy your searches, and I hope they prove fruitful!


Medal Roll for Kitchener's Horse.

Thanks Steve - he was definitely not on my radar screen. I do have a Joseph Steele in my Smethwickian database:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/11-research/3...hire-fusiliers#84714

I can say with absolute certainty that George of the KH & DEOVR was not the brother of Joseph. Although, as you can read, Joseph Steele received many mentions in the local newspaper (Smethwick Telephone) I cannot find a single mention relating to a George Steele who served in the South African War.

Edith Road did not exist in 1881 and No.8 in 1891 was occupied by the Olsen family, in 1901 by the Taylors but there is no return for the house in 1911 although there is for No.7 & No.9. To complete the picture in 1921 it was occupied by a George Lee and his wife Elizabeth. Edith Road was built in the 1880’s on land that was formerly part of the Shireland Estate and there is a hypothesis that it, along with Gilbert, Florence & Ada Road, were named after the children of the main farmer on the Estate. Gilbert Road was very much within the stamping ground of my youth but not so Florence, Edith & Ada Road which lay, and still do, the on the other side of Shireland Road.

So my question is are attestation papers for KH & DEOVR accessible and how does one go about finding them?

Regards, David

David.

There is no DEOVR paper for him but his attestation and discharge from Kitchener's Horse are here:

Very many thanks David – the info given in the documents has been crucial in sorting out the life and times of George.

When George attested for KH on 6 February 1900 he gave his age as 31. He must have attested very close to his 31st birthday as his birth was registered in Q2 1869 in Nantwich, Cheshire. The 1871 Census return indicates he was actually born in the village of Hough a few miles east of Nantwich and a similar distance due south of Crewe. His father, Henry was a farmer of 11 acres in 1881 but a decade later he had nearly tripled the size of his farm to 29 acres. George was the fifth child born to Henry and Ann (nee Groucott) and his brother Richard, ten years his senior, was to play a pivotal part in George’s subsequent life.

The 1891 Census shows Richard had moved south to the Midlands and was living in the Ladywood area of Birmingham with his Smethwick born wife Ann. Richard was employed as a “hydraulic engine driver” and was generously providing a home for his brother James as well as George. Interestingly, considering he was to serve in KH as a farrier, George was employed as a “blacksmith”.

In Q4 1892 George married Birmingham born Annie Laura Bromley in Birmingham.

6 February 1900 found George in Cape Town attesting for service in KH. On 30 November 1900 he was transferred to the Imperial Military Railways where presumably his blacksmith skills were again of use. Then for an unknown period he appears to have served in the DEOVR. So although, he gave a discharge address of 187 Brighton Terrace, Irving Street, Birmingham there was no way he was going to be living there at the time of the 1901 Census.

I think either George or the completer of his service record suffered from a touch of number dyslexia as the 1901 Census Return for Irving Street, Birmingham shows 28 year old “Annie L Steele” living at 178½ Brighton Terrace with their three children – Charles H aged 7 and born in Birmingham, George junior aged 5 and born in Walsall and Frank aged 2 and born in Smethwick.

I cannot find George, Annie or their children on the 1911 or 1921 UK Census returns. I have found Annie on a public family tree on Ancestry created by somebody living in Kent with South African grandparents. He does not appear to have discovered anything about George except his name and that he married Annie. For Annie he has discovered her on the 1901 Census and gives her exact date of birth as 21 September 1873 and her date and place of death as 14 October 1942, Johannesburg, South Africa. For her exact DoB he gives no supporting evidence but for her death details his source is the “Transvaal Province, South Africa, Estates Death Notice Index, 1855-1876”.

So George along with his family made a new life in South Africa and I can add him to my ABW Smethwickian database on the basis of a short residence in Smethwick before he became involved in fighting the Boers.

A message will be going to a public family tree creator shortly but I suspect I will be able tell him more than he can tell me.