TOPIC:

The father's address indicates that at the time Thomas junior attested the family, parents & 4 children, were living in one of the numerous Birmingham "Backs" built to accommodate the influx of people during the industrial revolution. Typically a row of back to back one up one down terrace houses with an attached communal courtyard where you would find the privies and a couple of wash houses. If they were lucky there would have been a hand pump in the yard supplying potable water (but often polluted). Thus the Boraston family were low in the pecking order but at least one rung up the social ladder as Thomas senior seems to have been permanently employed and there is no mention of the workhouse in the public family trees on Ancestry. Thankfully the "Backs" are now history but some survived until after WW2. The NT took over one of the last to be lived in (I think until the 1970's) and now run guided tours.

I have been devoting a fair bit of research time into the 500+ men commemorated on the Anglo Boer War Memorial in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham. As you can well imagine this is a long term project!
Interestingly, in relevance to this thread, I have found a good number of men who served and died with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and have only, thus far, made a preliminary search into the first 250 names alphabetically. At first it seems a little odd that they did not attest to the Worcesters, Warwicks or South Staffs. However, reading the previous posts, I would assume that these men may have attested to the DoCLI during the recruitment in which Thomas Boraston signed up.
More findings will be posted in the future, but it may be a while.......!

To date my study of Smethwickians who served in the Anglo-Boer War shows they served in 36 different Regiments but by far the most popular was the local one - South Staffs Rgt - who claimed a third. The Worcesters are a distant second with the Imperial Yeomanry taking the bronze medal.

DoCLI are near the top of the also rans with 3 who all all enlisted 3 years before Pte Boraston - on 27/01/1888 at Oldbury, 16/04/1888 at Oldbury & 28/06/1888 at Worcester. Based on their Fathers' addresses given as next of kin they were all living in Smethwick at the time. In each case a Sergeant Instructor from a local Regiment seems to have been involved in the recruitment.

During my formative years I must have seen the Canon Hill Park Memorial on several occasions but its magnificence made no lasting impression on me. Joseph Dunsbee, gets a single mention in the Smethwick Telephone. A year after his death he is affectionately remembered in the "In Memoriam" section by somebody with the initials "E. L.". I have found him on an Ancestry Public Family Tree and the 1891 Census return gives his age as 8 and shows he was born in Handsworth and still living there at 136 Ann Street. I suspect he might have been working just over the border in Smethwick when he enlisted.

Hi Smethwick.......

Here are a couple of Duke's that may be of interest to you......

2980 Private Stevens, Richard, 2nd Battalion

STEVENS, R. (RICHARD)

REG. NO.: 2980
RANK: PRIVATE
REGT: DUKE OF CORNWALL'S LIGHT INFANTRY, 2nd BATTALION
BARS: CAPE COLONY, PAARDEBERG, DRIEFONTEIN, JOHANNESBURG

2856 Private Dingley, J., 2nd Battalion

DINGLEY, J.

REG. NO.: 2856
RANK: PRIVATE
REGT: DUKE OF CORNWALL'S LIGHT INFANTRY, 2nd BATTALION
BARS: RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY, PAARDEBERG, DRIEFONTEIN, JOHANNESBURG

Mike

djb wrote:

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (6) Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast (3030 Pte. T. Danning, 2nd D. of C. Lt. Infy.)
[ KSA (2) ]

QSA verified

Just bought this at DNW......
The other medals shown in this thread dont appear to have as many clasps........ were the 2nd Batt split up to fill gaps elsewhere in the campaign and not serve as a regiment?
Regards
Wayne

Wayne,

There is an account of the DCLI here: www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/im...walls-light-infantry

There are service papers available for Thomas Danning. Born 1871 in Pensilva, Liskeard, Cornwall, England.