TOPIC:

I am currently researching my husband's family in South Africa and Wales for the blog www.quesnellpoolesouthafrica.wordpress.com .

His maternal grandfather, Arthur Henry POOLE, joined the Armourer Section of the British Army Ordnance Corps in April 1901 and was sent to South Africa in December of that year. His service record states he was "placed on the supernumerary list whilst serving with the S A Constabulary." It appears the SAC service started 1 May 1903; he was discharged in 1908 upon payment of 18 pounds. The family remembers that he continued as an armourer in a military/police capacity until his retirement (would he have joined the SAC permanently?). Afterwards, he continued to work on military firearms at his home in Bloemfontein, although I think this must have been for a museum, not on weapons then in use for the active military.

Recently, while trying to establish the duties of an armourer in the British Army, I found a 2004 posting from Martin F. Jackson (Scotland) on RootsWeb offering to send out copies of the journal of William Thomas Stirling/Sterling MARK, who was the Chief Armourer of the SAC. It sounds as if MARK's experiences, e.g. voyage out in late 1901, would have been similar to those of A H POOLE. Mr. Jackson's e-mail address no longer works. I have tried with no success contacting others who replied to the original posting and searching online for a copy or any information about either the journal or its author.

Interestingly, a search on MARK and his SAC service yielded a posting on Gentlemen's Military Interest Club from Brett Hendey, who has MARK's QSA medal. Since my registration on the GMIC site was never acknowledged (did they suspect I was only a lady and not a "gentleman?"), I was not able to contact Mr. Hendey to see if he had any further information about the journal or MARK's service with the SAC. However, he has contributed to this site so perhaps we'll make contact yet.

I should probably be putting most of this information into existing topics or creating a new topic instead of including it in Introductions. Blame it on being a newcomer to posting to forums.

Mary Beth

Hi Mary Beth

It was a pleasant surprise to find your post early this morning. I do still have Mark's QSA, as well as his SAC service papers, but this is the first I have heard of Mark's journal. Like you, I would very much like to see a copy of this journal. I wonder what else can be done to trace the elusive Mr Jackson? Perhaps another member of this forum will have a suggestion. (I will post a photo of Mark's QSA later.)

After 1908, the SAC was merged with the police forces of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. If Poole was later resident in Bloemfontein, he might have stayed on in the ORC Police. In 1913, the police forces of the four provinces of the newly established Union of South Africa were absorbed into the several regiments of the South Africa Mounted Rifles. The SAMR was the embryonic standing army of the Union and fought in the German South West Africa campaign of 1914/15. If Poole had indeed been a policeman in the Orange Free State and, if he was transfered to the SAMR, he would have served in the 3rd SAMR, which also included men from the old Natal Police and which was headquartered at Dundee. Not all the men in the SAMR served in the military. Some remained as policemen and were later absorbed into the South African Police.

If you want to contact me directly, please send me a 'Private Message' and I will send you my e-mail address.

Regards
Brett

PS I have a very masculine friend, who also happens to be a true gentleman, and he shared your problem with the GMIC, so it wasn't your gender that kept you out of that illustrious organisation. It is more likely to have been the gremlins of the Internet and/or computers.

Herewith a photo of Mark's QSA.

Brett

Mary Beth,

Welcome to the forum! I was pleased that you were able to make contact with Brett through the site and hope your search for more information is successful.

This site has similar problems to others when it comes to registration with some of the confirmation emails not making it through to their intended destinations.

With best wishes
David

Morning Brett,

I was interested in the naming of the medal. Can I ask if it is named to Supt and whether it is engraved/impressed please?

Many thanks
David

Sorry, one last thing Brett. That picture is excellent. Really crisp and clear.

Best wishes
David