TOPIC:

I am looking to restore several discs with repro suspenders and the correct awarded clasps. I have the following
761 Cpl P Boyd Durban Light Infantry I have no info on the clasps for this.
6103 Cpl J McGlynn Yorkshire Regiment. For this one it has all of it's clasps which are Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast. Would this man have also got the 1901 or 1902 or both?
Any info including attestations most welcome. Can anyone recommend the best clasp and suspender supplier? I heard that the die cast ones are the best quality. Thanks very much for your help. Jeremy

Jeremy,

Boyd:

WO100/261p184. Tr and RoL
WO100/261p230. Tr and RoL
WO100/260p211. CC and SA02. SA01 is crossed out - because he was back in England?

He was part of the Coronation detachment so will have the 1902 Coronation Medal.

QSA (3) CC RoL SA02

McGlynn

WO100/178p50. CC, OFS, Joh, DH, Belf
WO100/326p142. KSA with 2 clasps

As an alternative to copy clasps, you might also like to consider using original an suspender and clasps. It would be more expensive, probably 130% more, but the end result would be better in that you had returned the medal to its original condition.

Chris Dixon recently did just this for a couple of my discs and his work is excellent. Here are the before and after pictures.

Thank you very much for the amount of input you gave me about these medals. Amazing. But I am a bit confused about Boyd. Was he awarded Transvaal, Relief of Ladysmith, Cape Colony and SA02? You then said he only had three clasps in your last line about him. Also being Durban Light Infantry surely he was a Colonial soldier not a British soldier? Does that then imply he was part of the South African Coronation delegates rather than a British soldier whose unit was British? It seems strange he had his 1901 clasp deleted as he would have been serving throughout according to his papers so should have got the 01 and 02 as well I would have thought? Like Durban Light Infantry would never be sent 'home' as home was South Africa? As long as he was still in the unit it would follow that he should have both according to the record of service from 1899 to 1902.

Thank you for your reference to Chris Dixon. Will have to see if the cost equals the value for non family medals but I will look into it and appreciate your suggestion.

SAAFCaptain,

I would imagine Boyd would have been a local.

Here is the Coronation roll for the DLI



And the supplementary page which also suggests the CC and SA02 clasps were returned as unclaimed in 1914.



These are the obscured column headings

Thank you very much for this great information. I see that part of the DLI were on the train ambushed by the Boers when Churchill was captured. C company apparently with many injured. I came across a pic of this set named to another man on the 17 man coronation team surname Riches where the QSA seems to have the same clasps with exception of the CC that Boyd also got. I notice Riches also didn't get the 1901 clasp which I find odd, especially for a colonial unit because they would have surely been there the whole time unlike the British who returned to the U.K several times (including my British GGrandfather Uitenhage Volunteer Rifles, Bethunes Horse, Imp Yeomany Rhodesian Field Force 71st Sharpshooters, then came back again in the third contingent just as the war ended. He got the 01 and 02 clasp). Thank you for your expertise. Regards Jeremy

Cameron Simpson, Adrian Ellard and I are busy with a book on the Durban Light Infantry and here is a sneak-peek at what we have on Mr Boyd:

BOYD Percy Napoleon: Born Burger Street, Pietermaritzburg, Natal 15.5.1876; Clerk of Beach grove, Durban, Natal; Second Anglo-Boer War; Mobilized 29.9.99; Corporal, Cyclists Detachment, Durban Light Infantry (No761); Relief of Ladysmith and Transvaal operations; Released from active duty 1.10.00; Zululand Frontier operations September-October, 1901; Still on-strength of the D.L.I. when peace was declared 31.5.02; Member of the D.L.I. Detachment of the King Edward the Seventh Coronation Contingent to England 1902; Sailed from Southampton to Durban aboard the Kildonan Castle 23.8.02 being described as English; Died at Germiston, Transvaal 23.1.1951.