Q.S.A. with the clasps for NATAL and BELFAST awarded to Private 1908 P. Duffy.
I have made a previous post about whether or not Private Duffy was a fatal casualty at Bergendal on the 27th of August 1900.
He was reported as such along with Privates McGilton, McCartney and Mahon.
They are all shown on the Ancestry records for Boer War casualties and in the roll published by John Hayward many years ago.
I am satisfied though that none of these men died as reported.
Private, later Corporal McGilton went on to earn the KSA with two clasps. He is shown as later having transferred to the Army Reserve.
Private McCartney is noted on the QSA roll as having been invalided to England and a pension card believed to date from the 1920's exists for him.
Private Mahon's papers have survived and they show that he was discharged in December 1901.
The rolls for Private Duffy indicate that he was returned to England as time expired and also a supplementary roll shows him to have been
awarded the clasp for SA 1901. Army Reserve papaers and those for his attestation for the First World War have survived although they are far from 100% crystal clear.
But, the report that these men had died at Bergendal must have come from somewhere and almost certainly from official Army records etc.
My question is - where would such reports, sent from South Africa, have been collated and then published. I would have thought they might
have been posted in the London Gazette but this does not seem to have been the case.
Would any member know where such initial reports would have been directed to?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Chris
