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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (5) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (2863 Pte. A. Burge, Somerset: Lt. Infy.)

Albert Burge, a Farm Labourer from West Buckland, Somerset, was born around 1872. He attested into the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry on 18 February 1889, and transferred into the 2nd Battalion on 9 August 1890. Granted good conduct pay of 2d per diem in 1896, he later served in South Africa during the Boer War, where he died of disease on 7 August 1900.

A Burma 1886 DCM with a QSA to Sgt Maj E W Bath, Somerset LI.

QSA (5) CC OFS Tr RoL and TH on Wo100/175p4. KSA (2) Listed on WO100/323p106

Britannia, 11 May 2025

Pictures courtesy of ClarkesAuctions at Semley

QSA (1) Cape Colony (5187 PTE. A. Pressley Somerset Light Infantry);
KSA (2) (5187 PTE. A. Pressley Somerset Light Infantry)

A heads up on the QSA & KSA issued to 5187 Private A Pressley (see post above) - they are misnamed as his true name was Arthur Presley.

When he attested for Militia service in 1898 he could not read or write as the "X" in the middle of his alleged signature shows:



By the time of the 1911 Census he could read and write competently:



He was born in Radstock, North Somerset and he spent his civilian working life underground as a coalminer. He survived his two years in SA but in 1905 coal mining nearly did for him when a man working alongside him was crushed to death. Even then he was involved in a later coal mining accident that cut short his working life. Arthur passed away in Radstock in 1955 aged 81 and a widower but the report of his funeral shows all his seven children were in attendance. Full write up to follow.

Having spent some time recently viewing potential new homes in north Somerset I thought I would give 5187 Pte A Pressley (see previous two posts) a quick going over and consequently I have pursued him to the end.

Arthur Presley was born on 18 April 1874 in Radstock, North Somerset right in the middle of the Somerset coalfields with its 75 coalmines according to the present day exhibit in Radstock Museum. Arthur was baptised on 23 June 1874 and his father’s occupation was given as “labourer”.

The 1881 Census found the Presley family living in neighbouring Midsomer Norton and shows Arthur was the second of four children. The family income was supplemented by the presence of a 16 year old lodger who worked as a coal miner.

By the time of the 1891 Census the family had moved back to Radstock and the family income was not only supplemented by the presence of a lodger but also by 16 year old Arthur and his 18 year old elder brother bringing in a coal miners wage.

On 17 August 1898 Arthur attested in Midsomer Norton for six years’ service in the Militia. He gave his occupation as “miner” and his age as 22. His attestation papers show the educational process had let Arthur down as he appears to have been illiterate and innumerate. Rather than sign his name he made his mark “X” and gave his age as 22 when it was 24.Thus one can see why the military paperwork was all erroneously filled out in the name of Arthur Pressley and this error stayed with him throughout his six years of service resulting in the misnaming of his QSA. He was assigned the regimental number of 5187.

There are only 3 pages to Arthur’s military records but the last is very informative:

Arthur served in the 4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and the battalion was embodied on 4 December 1899. Arthur and his Militia comrades, who had agreed to overseas service, set sail for South Africa on 7 March 1900. Whilst still in South Africa on New Year’s Day 1902 Arthur was awarded a Good Conduct Badge. He set foot again on the soil of England on 13 May 1902 and on the following day the 4th Battalion were disembodied. He was discharged from the Militia “on termination of engagement” on 16 August 1902, the sixth anniversary of his original enlistment, having already been issued his Queen’s South Africa Medal with a single clasp, namely “Cape Colony”. It was also noted he was due the King’s South Africa Medal with both date clasps.

Consulting the shipping records shows the 4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry sailed out to South Africa on the Kildonan Castle and consisted of 24 officers, a Civil Surgeon and 390 men. The 3rd (Militia) Battalion SLI sailed out with them. They left South Africa on 22 April 1902 aboard the Sicilia, reduced to 15 officers and 224 men, the latter despite having received a draft of 56 men in late January 1902.

From the above one can conclude that Arthur spent two years and a month on service in South Africa and never left the Cape Colony with the possible exception of Natal. Checking out the Battalion’s QSA Medal Roll shows that about 95% of Arthur’s comrades received only the Cape Colony clasp with on average one on each page receiving the “Orange Free State” clasp as well. Both medal rolls are devoid of helpful entries in the “Comments” column.

As to what the 4th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry did in South Africa I cannot be of much help. Perusing the newspapers of the day tells me one of their officers was an MP, another accidently drowned, a Private was accidently killed by a train and a number of them were ill with several succumbing. I cannot find any record of one of their number being wounded or killed in action. The 56 men who went out as the January 1902 draft were mainly “old hands” who had been invalided home sick but were now recovered, at the time they went out to South Africa the 4th Battalion were stationed at East London.

One of the first things Arthur did on his return home in May 1902 was marry Mary Ann Wiltshire but it was nearly a short marriage. A newspaper report in December 1905 shows Arthur was working as an underground coal miner with two other men “benching coal” when a “capstone” estimated to weigh ten tons fell from the roof crushing one of Arthur’s workmates instantly to death. At the inquest the coroner concluded “there was no evidence of neglect on the part of the deceased or of others” and a verdict of “accidental Death” was returned. No comment.

The 1911 Census return for 50 Wells Road, Radstock is of interest on more than once count:



I previously cited this return as evidence that Arthur senior had learnt to read and write by 1911 but on reflection I think I was probably wrong. The neat and precise hand writing, one could say childlike, coupled with the two “schoolboy” ink blots make me suspect Arthur junior filled it out. This suspicion is compounded by the more mature and flamboyant hand writing on the 1921 Census return for the Presley family.

Also note the 8 years of marriage and Arthur junior being 10 years old. The 1939 Register tells us Arthur junior was born on 3 June 1900 and we know Arthur senior left for South Africa on 7 March 1900. Thus they almost certainly were biological father and son and Arthur’s marriage within 6 weeks of his return is understandable.

The June 1921 Census found the family living just down the road at 45 Wells Road. In addition to the 4 boys listed in 1911 had been added a fifth, Leslie and finally, no doubt the long awaited girls, Madge and Iris. Arthur senior, Arthur junior (21), Victor (18) and Nelson (13) were of working age but only Nelson was actually working at the time of the census as an errand boy for the Radstock Co-Operative Society. The others had all been employed at the Radstock Colliery but at the time of the census were “out of work”. Arthur senior when not laid off was still hewing coal underground. Arthur junior’s occupation was given as “Coal Miner (carting boy)” & Nelson’s as “Coal miner (horse driver)” which meant they were working underground when not laid off. Whilst no doubt Alice would have missed the money they brought in her anxiety levels must have been much lower during lay-offs.

The children all married except Charlie who remained a bachelor to his dying day. In February 1936 Alice passed away aged 59. Thus the September 1939 Register found Arthur senior (Retired Miner) and Charlie (Colliery Surface Man) still living at 45 Wells Road.

Under the headline “VETERAN OF BOER WAR” the Somerset Guardian & Radstock Observer of 5 August 1955 reported Arthur’s death on 27 July 1955 at his home, 45 Wells Road. The article ran on as “Mr Presley, who was 81, was born and lived in Radstock all his life, except for a period of military service in South Africa during the Boer War. He worked as a coal miner, until some years ago when a serious accident in the pit caused him to give up work.” The article then lists the family mourners and a floral tribute from his 7 grandchildren.

There is no evidence that Arthur served in the Great War and as a coal miner he would have been considered to occupy a reserved occupation. The lack of mention of the Great War/WW1 in the 1955 newspaper article also supports the notion he spent the Great War working underground in Somerset.

Can anybody shed light on what the 4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry did in the ABW during 1900-1902?

Smethwick,

There seems to be little written about the 4th Batallion.

Unusually these days, the Somerset Heritage Centre ( somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/DD/SLI ) holds what appears to be a rich archive on the regiment from the 17th C.

{Copied from their website]

The Somerset Light Infantry was raised in 1685 by James II to suppress the Protestant rebellions led by the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyll. At the time all British regiments were named after their Colonel, and thus the regiment was known as Huntingdon's Foot, since then the regiment has gone through several reincarnations - from the 13th Regiment of Foot (from 1751) to the 13th Somersetshire Light Infantry (from 1782), before being awarded the honour in 1842 of being re-titled the 13th or Prince Albert's Light Infantry. In 1959 the regiment was amalgamated with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, before defence cuts saw the amalgamation of all the Light Infantry Regiments in 1968.

Over the course of its 300-year history the regiment gained a total of 112 battle honours, its first being awarded in 1704 after the siege of Gibraltar. The nineteenth century proved particularly rewarding for the regiment, with honours being awarded for action in the 1st and 3rd Burmese War, (in 1823 and 1885 respectively), for participation in the 1839 war in Afghanistan, for the siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War, for the Zulu War and the Boer War. In the twentieth century, the regiment participated in both World Wars; undertook peacekeeping duties in China, Cyprus and Germany; played a leading role in Malayan Emergency of the early 1950s and had the honour of being the last British regiment to march out of India after independence was granted. The regiment also produced prominent figures, the most notable of whom was 'Fighting Bob Sale'. As an Officer of the regiment, Sir Robert Sale distinguished himself during the First Burmese and Afghan Wars, often fighting barehanded with the enemy, before being granted the Colonelcy of the regiment in 1844.

The collection contains a rich and varied account of the history of the regiment along with documents relating to the county's militia, yeomanry and territorial forces. The collection also holds a considerable amount of material relating to the British Army, other conflicts and home life during war. The catalogue has been split into two sections. The first fourteen series relate to the official side of the regiment and contains the digests of service and historical records (DD/SLI/1), war diaries (DD/SLI/2), company, muster and battalion rolls and pay lists (DD/SLI/3), commission parchments (DD/SLI/4), medal rolls (DD/SLI/5), orders books, battalion and operation orders (DD/SLI/6), court martial and punishment books (DD/SLI/7), Officers mess and other regimental volumes (DD/SLI/8), casualty lists (DD/SLI/9), minute books (DD/SLI/10), account books (DD/SLI/11), official reports and correspondence (DD/SLI/12), other army forms, logs and official returns (DD/SLI/13), army issue maps and plans (DD/SLI/14). The remaining nine series contain non-official documents including photographs and photo albums (DD/SLI/15), postcards and illustrations (DD/SLI/16), private papers of individual soldiers (DD/SLI/17), published material (DD/SLI/18), printed material (DD/SLI/19), historical studies, research notes, lectures and research correspondence (DD/SLI/20), captured enemy documents (DD/SLI/21), indexes (DD/SLI/22), miscellaneous documents (DD/SLI/23), papers relating to the amalgamation of the Somerset Light Infantry and the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DD/SLI/24) and papers concerning the establishment of the Somerset Military Museum (DD\SLI/25). Each series is normally arranged by date order according to document date or the period to which it relates, apart from the private papers of individual soldiers, which is arranged alphabetically by the soldier's surname. Any numbers in square brackets contained in the description field are those allocated to the item by the depositing body.

Closed items may be viewed with the permission of the depositor, please speak to staff for details. Many of the photographs from this collection are stored in our cold store - PLEASE REQUEST SUCH ITEMS 24 HOURS AHEAD OF INTENDED VISIT.

See also collections A\ALD, A/CCX, A\CZS, DD/NSY. Microfilm copies of soldiers discharged from service from the 13th Regiment of Foot, 1760-1854, are listed as A\ASA.

Date [c. 1685]-2016
Extent 293 boxes