TOPIC:

My great grandfather Thomas Whitmore , was in the Royal Army Service Corp. His rank was a Corporal/Regiment No T/10569 as a shoe smith, and I know was called up under special orders for the second boar war in 7 October 1899. I have searched your database but cannot find him. I would like to know more about his involvement and if he acquired any medals. Can anyone help?

Welcome to the Forum.

Your great-grandfather was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with two clasps - "Tugela Heights" & "Relief of Ladysmith" - as evidenced by the following medal roll for the 16th Company of the Army Service Corps which I found on Ancestry.



I think his name was crossed out because he also served in the 53rd Company of the ASC and there may have been some confusion regarding which medal roll he should be on. Reference to the right hand most column shows he was invalided home on 14th June 1900.

On Find My Past there can be found a slightly muddled collection of attestation papers, service records, medical records and discharge papers - there are FOURTEEN pages of them so rather too much to post on here.

Regards, David.

Hello Curlypearly
Welcome to the forum.
Can I ask a quick question?
With reference to your Great Grandfather, was Thomas born in Clonroche County Wexford in Ireland? Also, was he married to Jane and resided in Portsmouth?
As mentioned by Smethwick (David) your Great Grandfather did receive a 2 clasp QSA medal. He was back in England in 1900. The 1901 Census records Thomas as still serving in the ASC as a worker in Devenport Plymouth .If I have the right man, your Great Grandfather went on to serve in the British Expeditionary Force in WW1 and recieved his WW1 trio of medals.

Regards

Dave

Dave - these two extracts from the muddled 14 pages show you are are on the right track regarding birth place and wife:





Only one page of the 14 relates to service in WW1 - this extract contains the useful info.



Regards, David.

Curlypearly
For your records



Confirmation on Thomas's medal entitlement and his injury of finger / hand .
267 days in South Africa then returned to England and served until 1911 and was discharged at his own request. He then rejoined the colours to serve from 1915 to 1919.

Best wishes

Dave

Curly,
Thomas Whitmore fought on the Natal front to relieve Ladysmith. He would have been involved in battles like Colenso. Spion Kop, Vaalkrans, and the breakthrough to Ladysmith.
He wasn't apparently wounded, but was invalided home. The likely cause for this would have been typhoid (called enteric fever at the time).
The official figures were that, of the British Force of 556653 men who served in the Anglo-Boer War, 57684 contracted typhoid, 8225 of whom died. This can be compared to 7 582 soldiers who were killed in action. The figure of 57684 is likely an underestimate, since many milder cases of typhoid were called Simple Continued Fever.
Rob