TOPIC:

Just joined to do some family research on 19th company 6th Battalion IY. Family history has it that John Andrew Dudgeon Stein was shot and bayoneted (in hekpoort?) and managed not to die. Would like to try figure the truth of this. Found him on the QSA roll no 8404. We have his helmet and some red uniform jacket so we think he signed up when the yeomanry was first raised.

Any suggestions where to look for info regards this Scottish Battalion? Would like to trace his campaign. I don't have any medals I'm afraid.

Paul
The SAFF casualty list shows "8404 Cpl. J.A.D.STERN 6th Imperial Yeomanry" as wounded at Hekpoort 05/07/00. Hekpoort is located 25km north of Krugersdorp.
You might check for papers for your chap in the UKNArchives.
Good luck in your quest. Lovely helmet, by the way; never saw one before.
IL.

Indeed a lovely helmet. Unlike most I've seen, including the one I have, all the delicate decoration around the circlet on this one appears to be intact.

Patrick

Paul
Regarding any research you might do re 19th Coy, 6th Bn IY, apart from a unit history about the only way I know is to follow the whereabouts of the Coy by reference to the published casualty lists. Sometimes we might get a cross reference from the activities of another unit; hard work finding such! My first step is to check the medal roll and see the entitlement and check your NA for any personal papers. A further source - judging from what I have seen on the site - could be the local newspapers. Since your man was WiA, there might be some additional info from them.
I had a quick check to see if 19th/6IY had a unit history - but could not see one.
Regards
IL.

Hello Paul,
Welcome here, regarding service papers, I checked the available folio for a John Stern or a John Stein, given the information and photographs in your post I did not expect to find anything and that has been the case.
The 6th Battalion was an amalgam of volunteers from the Fife Light Horse, the Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, the Forfar Light Horse and the Lothian and Berwickshire and Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanries.
They left Scotland for South Africa in February 1901.
Your 1871 Albert, which I very much like, was worn between 1888 and 1901, so the gentleman in question here was a serving yeoman in the Lothian and Berwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry before the Anglo Boer War.
They were styled and thus uniformed as heavy cavalry and only the "heavies" wore the Albert, your example is superb and worth rather more than a mere QSA to the 6th IY, moreover, it is far rarer, look after it!
Again, welcome to this forum, kind regards,
Frank Kelley

Paul,
I forgot to mention the bayonet in your post, regarding the story, it may well just be that, the enemy did not care for hand to hand combat and never really had an answer to the bayonet.
There were, however, instances of a rifle and bayonet being wrestled away from soldiers by the enemy and then being used against them, at Ladysmith in January 1900 for example, but, such instances were very rare indeed.
Regards Frank