TOPIC:

Hi everyone

My first post here.

I'm South African born but living in the UK now.

My great grandfather fought for the British and I'm very lucky to have his medals. He name was William ("Pop") Clark and he was a Lancer.
He died before I was born and so I have no real knowledge of him, other than he was quite a character. Sadly I don't have any pictures of him either. I would have loved to see him in that red British army outfit!

Once the war was over he decided to stay and joined the South African police force as a detective.
Due to reasons not entirely clear he was forced to take early retirement at age 50.

In the words of my father, he was bad investment for the state as he lived to his nineties

I'm told that at some point the South African government announced pensions to anyone who fought in the war, no matter what side.
He ended up with some good savings and several pensions.

I've attached two pictures of his framed medals and his details - 4246 Ptw W. Clark of the 16th Lancers.

Greetings to all.

Very nice group spanning 40 years! They are incorrectly mounted however, the WWII ones go to the right of the Boer War ones. A small point but one you might want to correct over time.

It's possible that, being in the SAP, your ggdad didn't see service in WWI, which would account for the absence of WWI medals. What you might want to look for though, depending on the length of service he had with the police, is a SAP Faithful (Long) Service Medal. See below for an example in my collection.



Regards

Rory

His service records covering his time in the 16th Lancers - downloaded from Find My Past.

Rory wrote: Very nice group spanning 40 years! They are incorrectly mounted however, the WWII ones go to the right of the Boer War ones. A small point but one you might want to correct over time.

It's possible that, being in the SAP, your ggdad didn't see service in WWI, which would account for the absence of WWI medals. What you might want to look for though, depending on the length of service he had with the police, is a SAP Faithful (Long) Service Medal. See below for an example in my collection.

Thank you very much for the reply. Will correct them as suggested

Thank you also for the SAP suggestion, I'm not sure he had that medal.
I do know he was annoyed about not receiving another medal/award for an event as he was not able to travel to ceremony location in time.


Regards

Rory

Smethwick wrote: His service records covering his time in the 16th Lancers - downloaded from Find My Past.

WOW!

Thank you SO much for these records.
Have saved them and will share with my family.

........ and here are the relevant pages from the 16th Lancers Medal Rolls. Downloaded from Ancestry.

Also checked to see if he appeared in any Public Family Trees on Ancestry but drew a blank.