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Hi there,

I've just joined up! I am from Scotland and have recently moved to KZN. We have a letter in my family from a soldier that was written during the Anglo-Boer War. He is not a member of our family and the letter came into my grandfathers hands by chance. As I have his name,number and company name, i thought that I'd try and find out something about him. Unfortunately, I've searched his details in the database here but he doesn't seem to be there Nevertheless, the information on the site regarding his regiment is informative and gives a good idea of where he was engaged.

Has anyone any idea where I could get some more info on this guy....ie: Did he survive and make it back to Scotland? I don't have a date or place of birth and his name is quite common so it was had to find him in the Kew national archives online.

Thanks....Julie

Hey there, My guy was not on the lists here, but did appear on ancestry - what do you have so far?
Liz

Hello Julie,

Welcome to KZN, the home of the "Sharks".

Julie, I would think that the best place to start would be by posting the Regimental number, name and the Regiment that the chap served with. Who knows, someone here might well have some info for you.

Regards

Adrian

Thanks for replying.

The letter I have was written by

Private John Marshall, no 6154 of B company, 2nd Scottish Rifles.

It was written from Frere Camp on 11th Dec 1899.

Apart from the content of the letter, which is mostly about the heat and lack of water etc, that's all I know of him.

The letter was given to my grandfather by someone who found it in a biscuit tin!

The problem with sites such as ancestry is that there are so many John Marshalls from Scotland listed. I think something that can search his reg number is my best bet as I don't have his date of birth, death or details of where born. Maybe I'll just have to send my Mum to Kew in London.

Hi Julie,
And welcome to the forum.
I have looked on Find My Past and found five pages of service papers for John.
It shows his QSA entitlement to clasps Transvaal,Tugela Heights,Relief of Ladysmith and Laings Nek so he saw some action.
He was also entitled to the KSA with the two date clasps.
If you need any more details let me know.

Regards
Paul

Julie Grant wrote: Thanks for replying.

The letter I have was written by

Private John Marshall, no 6154 of B company, 2nd Scottish Rifles.

It was written from Frere Camp on 11th Dec 1899.

Apart from the content of the letter, which is mostly about the heat and lack of water etc, that's all I know of him.

The letter was given to my grandfather by someone who found it in a biscuit tin!

The problem with sites such as ancestry is that there are so many John Marshalls from Scotland listed. I think something that can search his reg number is my best bet as I don't have his date of birth, death or details of where born. Maybe I'll just have to send my Mum to Kew in London.

Julie,

Welcome to the forum and to KZN. You'll not be missing the British snow??

With the service papers that Paul has identified on FindMyPast, you'll be able to build a good picture of the author of your letter.

You can imagine someone newly arrived in South Africa finding the heat something of a change from what they were used to.

Best wishes
David