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Hello Henk,
That is a magnificent group to Franks, but now I'm confused, regarding that ABO recipient, surely his service in the Canadian Scouts would render him ineligible for an ABO?
Regards Frank

OSAKSA wrote:

Hi Maryanne and Justin

In the link to the Barberton Concentration Camp a number of references are made to Dr Kendal Franks.

He was one of the few recipients of a Boer War Civil CB

Regards

Henk

PS That UCT link is invaluable! By using it I found out that I had the ABO medal to a man who never claimed his QSA named to the Canadian Scouts!

Good Morning Henk....

Can you please tell me the name of the Canadian Scout.....

Mike

Hi all
Some two years ago I bought an ABO medal to a Burger C du Plessis.
In researching the recipient I found that in May 1953 a certain Francois P du Plessis applied for ABO medals for himself and his father, Cornelis du Plessis, who died in 1906. He supplied ID numbers for both and said they had served for the duration of the war in the Krokodilrivier/Pretoria Commando.
The Transvaal Archives confirmed the ID and Commando data and 2 medals were duly issued.
As a matter of routine I checked my PoW roll and found that C du Plessis of the Crocodile River Field Cornetcy (PoW 12218) was captured on 7 Sept 1900. The interesting part of the entry was the remark "Irene Refugee Camp".
I went to the UCT website and found Cornelis, his wife and some children (not Francois).The cherry on top was the info that he left Irene Camp on 1 November 1901 to join the Canadian Scouts! His QSA was marked "A" and never issued.
One can only speculate that Francois conveniently forgot to mention that his father (dead for almost 50 years) had not been a loyal Burgher.

Henk

Hello Henk,
Superb! just superb, you are a very lucky fellow, I love stories like this, I regret not buying more ABO's when they were really cheap here.
It would have meant buying them blind, but they were so inexpensive it would have been worth it and who knows, I might have ended up with the odd really special one, such as Du Plessis
One can only speculate its value and just think if that QSA had been claimed!
I am now with envy!
Thanks for posting the story, kind regards Frank

Good Evening Henk.....

There are 4 men on the Canadian Scouts medal roll with the name Du Plessis.....

DU PLESSIS, C., BURGER / NSN / 01-11-01 to 08-05-02 / Previous Service, Menne's Scouts / QSA - OFS, TVL, 01, 02

DU PLESSIS, C.H., BURGER / NSN / 03-12-01 to 30-06-02 / Previous Service, None / QSA - OFS, TVL, 01, 02

DU PLESSIS, J.H., BURGER / NSN / 30-04-01 to 03-03-02 / Previous Service, None / QSA - OFS, TVL, 01, 02 / Missing believed killed 02-03-02

DU PLESSIS, L.H., BURGER / NSN / 01-11-01 to 08-05-02 / Previous Service, Menne's Scouts / QSA - OFS, TVL, 01, 02

Mike

Thanks to the contributors to this thread, we have another indication of the sad and divisive, but nevertheless interesting effects that this war had on the inhabitants of South Africa. The researches of medal collectors has revealed many fascinating stories that might otherwise have remained hidden.

Mike
Like Frank, I have a particular interest in Menne's Scouts, so I noted the two Du Plessis' in the Canadian Scouts with earlier service in Menne's Scouts. They were presumably kin (?brothers) because of their identical service records. There must be an interesting story to be uncovered here as well.

Brett