TOPIC:

Hello and greetings for the 2025 New Year from the UK. My name is Michael Hawkes living in Dorset UK. I have been working slowly on my family tree for some years but much more seriously of late since the arrival of my first grand child.

I am hoping that I might get some pointers from this forum. I attach a photo of my grandfather Albert John Hawkes ... born Cardiff 1875 ... which is marked as being taken in Potchefstroom in 1903 - so he was 28 years old here.

I have tried everything I can think of to find some flesh to this story. He was married on the Christmas day 1902 to my gran and the next thing I could find out about him was when my aunt was born in Huddersfield 1905 and then my dad born there in 1906. I have found him on the 1901 and 1911 Census' in Huddersfield - so he was fairly stable in that regard...until I came across this picture. So presumably he went to South Africa shortly after getting married - obviously too late for the Boer war - yet dressed in some form of military uniform. He was back in UK until taking my dad as a 13 year old in 1920 to Rhodesia where they both lived until they died and where I was born. Obviously he liked something about that part of the world when he was briefly there at the time of this picture - no idea how long for - or if he took a trip North to Rhodesia to view.

So my question is does anyone know what this force/unit(?) may be and where may I look for further details. I can find nothing in the archives here or through your web site with his name on it.

Looking forward to hearing from someone soon. Michael.

Welcome to the forum, Michael.

The collar badges look very much like the Imperial Light Horse badge. The ILH (now the Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment) are a volunteer regiment, so your grandfather wouldn't have been a regular soldier.

The JLHR have a Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/JLHRSA ). Perhaps you can establish contact with them and find out if they still have a record of your grandfather's service.

Thank you for your response Arthur. I have sent them a message and cross fingers - get a response soon. Most British initiated military units kept some records of their men somewhere but it appears that this particular regiment/brigade records are difficult to locate. Nothing comes up on the National Archives here which surprised me. Here's hoping someone can respond with more good pointers!
Kindest regards,
Michael