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Charles Tiffany was born in Rothwell, Yorkshire in 1879. The same year his future regiment were engaged at the battle of Ulundi during the Zulu war. There are no clues as to why Chas Tiffany decided to join the Royal Scots Fusiliers as opposed to a Yorkshire or Lancashire regiment. However in 1896 he decided to break away from his mining community and join the Queens colours. In 1890 aged 12 years old he was working with his father Charles senior at the local colliery as a miner. The family were living in Lofthouse, Wakefield where Charlie junior resided with his mother Mary and his sisters Sarah, Lilley, Ethel and his younger brother Albert.


Rothwell Yorkshire.

It is believed after he received notice from a Sergeant Thomas Bradley of the 3rd West Yorkshire Regiment, he made his way to Leeds for his medical exam and was deemed fit to travel to Ayr to join the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Aged 18 years and 6 months he started his service and training which kept him on home soil for nearly 4 years. It wasn't until Thursday the 26th of April 1900 that more soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers arrived in South Africa. The first contingent of Tiffany's regiment had been in South Africa since November 1899 forming part of the Fusilier Brigade under Major General Barton. The Royal Scots were in the thick of the action during the early stages of the conflict and took part in the Colenso, Val Krantz, Green Hill and Pieters / Hussar Hill actions.

However, Private 5219 C. Tiffany would have probably been present with the Battalion for the commencement of the Rooidam engagement which took place in May 1900. The brigade then marched to Fourteen Streams, Christiana, Taungs, and Vryburg; then, leaving the Mafeking Railway, across a poorly watered country to Lichtenburg, Frederickstad, and Potchefstroom.  The brigade was now broken up, and the Royal Scots Fusiliers and Royal Welsh Fusiliers remained with General Barton in the Krugersdorp district, in which they were to see a great deal of fighting.

From December 1900 to May 1901 the battalion was part of the garrison of Johannesburg, forming the outposts for the defence of the town, and holding the water-works, twenty miles outside and during the latter part of the month they were sent to the Krokodil Valley, holding Nelspruit and other posts, and occasionally coming into action against Boers attempting to blow up the line. In August 1901 Charles was part of a contingent of Scots Fusiliers who were garrisoned about 9 miles from Nelspruit at a blockhouse complex outside Alkmaar.



Sometime during the 27th August the Boers derailed a train and there is strong evidence that Charles may have been one of the several men who volunteered to go out and help defend the derailed train. If this was the case, it seems that Private Tiffany was severely wounded at this action.
Two of Charles's comrades 3626 Private B Knowles & 2505 Private W Galon were mentioned in dispatches. The London Gazette dated the 3rd of December 1901 records the defence of the train which kept the enemy at bay until support arrived. It is therefore possible that Pte Tiffany may have been severely wounded before the support arrived or he was part of the support. Either way, I am certain he played his part somewhere along that railway line and sustained severe wounds on that Tuesday in August 1901.



It looks as though Charles's was not returned to England due to his injuries. He would have been taken to the nearest field hospital and there he would have received medical care and recuperation. His time in South Africa equated to 1 year and 224 days. It was a spell of 4 months before he was to return to England during December. On his return he was discharged medically unfit for further service and on the 30th April 1902 he made his way from Woolwich back to Yorkshire.

I have not been able to ascertain what injuries Charles sustained, however he found employment again back in the Coal mining industry.
He married Emma Randall in Liverpool in 1903 where they lived at Spring Head cottage in Rothwell. Emma was 5 years older than Charles and the 1911 census records only 3 adults living at the cottage and no mention of any children . By this time Charles was employed as a Coal Miner Corporal which included managing a certain district of the mining area under a deputy.


Rothwell Colliery

When WW1 commenced, Charles was still employed at the local colliery. However, he decided to enlist for home service duty and returned to his old regiment at nearly 38 years of age. This time his regimental number was 19813. He served between July 1915 and June 1916 having been discharged yet again for being no longer physically fit for war service. Interestingly I have been unable to ascertain if there were any WW1 medals attributed to Charles. Although, I did find a record of him being awarded a Silver war badge number B39431.



Private 5219 Charles Tiffany 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers
Queens South Africa medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal. He was also entitled to the 1901 date clasp.