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Nice to hear from you again!

David

Yes welcome to the forum..... I am sure that you will be able to add to out depth of knowledge...…

Mike

Hello, Thank you for letting me join the forum. I have quite unexpectedly found out that my Great Grandmother's brother, Walter William Stallwood (no. 2483), served in the Boer War, albeit for less than a year. This is due to a speculative Google image search on some medals being worn in a photo postcard that I have. Some research on Ancestry revealed medal award info, but I wasn't certain it was our Walter until looking on FMP and there being an "address on discharge" connected to his record of 26 Cornwallis Street, Hastings, Sussex - my Great Grandmother's address. Walter and most of the family served in the Navy, so I would never have found this connection firstly without the image search on the medals and secondly without the address confirmation.

I have no knowledge of Boer War and/or medals awarded, but would agree with the previous comment about a discrepancy in the clasps awarded. I can see a document for the South Africa medal and clasps awarded noting the Orange Free State and Transvaal, and a document for additional clasps for 1901 and 1902. However, next to it is a note that I can't totally transcribe but does say + 4 clasps reissued 22.09.04. I have also found a FMP record for a Walter Wm Stallwood enlisting on 08 May 1901 (right age) with a different service number of 2332 - coincidental to have the same name in the same regiment or some mix up in records, and hence the clasps discrepancy?

I have attached images of the postcard front and back. Walter sent the card to his father, also named Walter. This was sent in 1907 and my Great Grandmother had moved by then to this address - her (and her brother Walter's) father lived with them. I was never 100% which of the men was Walter, but would assume the front one given the medals on show! I also saw the portrait of Walter on another thread. To say I am delighted to see this and the medal would be an understatement - shows the importance of revisiting information that has been in our possession for years, especially as more and more info becomes available online.

I realise this thread is quite old, but would be very interested to see if the medal is still in the same possession and whether there is the possibility of purchasing it to come back into the family.
My thanks to all that make this and so many websites like it so very helpful to research.
Kind regards
Mrs Lee English





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Apologies back of postcard image file too big to send.

I'm an IT luddite, but have cropped the postcard in 2 to allow for file size being uploaded.






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Dear Lee
Your postcard was sent in 1921 and refers to the SS Finland, a ship with a colourful history, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Finland and www.redstarline.eu/finland.html
The uniforms in your postcard look to me like merchant navy ones - quite similar to the White Star Line of Titanic fame, but not quite the same - possibly the Red Star Line which could fit?
If you post your image here you will likely get a good identification of the uniform.
www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=33