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Exall of the Durban Light Infantry 4 years 10 months ago #68901

Rory
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Alfred Henry Exall

Private, Durban Light Infantry – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with South Africa 1902 clasp to 965 Pte. A. Exall, Durban L.I.

Alfred Exall was born in Durban in the Colony of Natal on 5 June 1877, the son of Alfred Henry Exall, a Bricklayer by trade, and his wife Helen Anne, born Horne. The second child in a family of 5, Alfred had William Robert for an older brother, along with younger siblings, Letitia Ann, Albert John, Alice Hellen and Lindsay Howard.

Having received a rudimentary education, Alfred was one of the fortunate few to be employed, on a permanent basis, with the Colonial Government. Commencing on 2 September 1890 as a Telegraph Messenger when he was 13, he progressed to acting clerk in the Postal Department with effect from 16 December 1895 and then to third-class clerk in the Postal and Telegraph Department on 1 April 1899 – he was employed at the Post Office in Durban.

1899 was an auspicious year for an entirely different reason as well – on 11 October 1899 the ultimatum President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic had sent to Great Britain had, as was expected, remained unanswered and, on the morning of 12 October the world woke to find itself at war – in far-away South Africa at least.

Possibly because of work commitments, Exall was a late bloomer when it came to enlisting. By the time he signed up with the Durban Light Infantry in March 1901, as a Private with no. 965, the Siege of Ladysmith had been over for a year and the volunteer regiments of Natal, including his own, had been demobilized, leaving only a few hundred who had joined the Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment as a representative sample of Natal manhood still in the field.

Granted there was a late “call up” of men into Zululand towards the end of the year but, to all intents and purposes, Exall and men like him were free to return to their civilian employment. The war over on 31 May 1902, he was awarded the Queens Medal with South Africa 1902 clasp for his efforts.

Exall continued on with the Post Office, the Natal CIVIL List of 1907 showing that, as of 1 July of that year, he was commanding the princely sum of £265 per annum. This was money that would have come in handy, considering the fact that, on 3 May 1905, at the Presbyterian Church in Durban, he wed Caroline Matilda Hutcheson, a 21 year old spinster. He was 27 years old and described as a Civil Servant. Alfred Walter Roger Exall was born to the couple on 28 February 1906 – their address given as Clark Road in Durban – the same as that for a Margaret Hutcheson (one can assume that the families stayed together for the sake of economy)

Alfred Exall does not appear to have served in WWI – many of his brother did, including William Robert Exall and Lindsay Howard Exall – Lindsay was Killed in Action on 8 October 1918. I have their medals as well.

Alfred passed away in Durban in 1956 at the age of 79 and was survived by his wife and children.