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Arthur Blick was born on 3 July 1874 in Smethwick, Staffordshire – hence my interest in him.

The 1881 Census shows the Blick family living at 103 Price Street, Smethwick and tells us Arthur's father was a “stationary engine driver”.

By the time of the 1891 Census the Blick family had moved to the Yardley area of Birmingham and 16 year old Arthur had, occupation wise, followed in his father’s footsteps.

However, Arthur was apparently not content with being a “stationary engine driver” and on 29 October 1891 attested for service in the army. He gave his age as 18 years and 3 months and thereby committed the first of his “sins” as he was actually only 17 years and 3 months old. He measured 5 feet 6¾ inches in height, weighed in at a scrawny 8 stones 3 lbs and just failed by half an inch to meet the minimum chest measurement of 33 inches. The medic still decided he was “fit” to be a solider but his attestation papers received the “Special” stamp meaning in the medic’s opinion he would rapidly develop and meet the minimum physical requirements.

Arthur signed up to the usual 7 years of active service followed by 5 years in reserve. For reasons unknown he was assigned to the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and spent the next couple of months in Oxford receiving basic training. At the end of this period he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion and spent the next two years on home service.

Amongst Arthur’s surviving paperwork are his medical records in which each new posting is noted with a date. This is followed by either a “Non-Admission” showing he was not admitted to hospital during the posting or the dates for any admissions to hospital along with cause and treatment. Of the 15 postings listed only 5 have “Non Admission” against them. Arthur spent 9 years and 5 months on active service during which he was admitted to hospital on 12 occasions spending a total of 12½ months in hospital – you have been warned.

Thus from his medical records we can work out his first two years of service were spent at Oxford, Gosport, Aldershot, Gosport again, Cork & Kinsale. During this time he had two short stays in hospital, totalling 11 days, with the first being for a “connective tissue inflammation” and the second for “inflammation of the glands” during which he also suffered from toothache.

During this home service Arthur also received leave and married Birmingham born Elizabeth Simpson in St Andrew’s Church in Birmingham on 22 October 1893. As far as the army was concerned this seems to have been a surreptitious act as he was not admitted to the married roll until he was recalled to the colours in 1899.

Six weeks later on 4 December 1893 Arthur was transferred to the 1st Battalion and set sail with them for India aboard the Cunard Liner SS Bothnia. On 4 April 1894 they arrived at Bareilly about 150 miles north west of Lucknow and 3½ months later Arthur was admitted to hospital for 18 days suffering from a foot ulcer, then another 2½ months later he spent 16 days in hospital being treated for an ingrowing toe nail caused by his boots being too tight – I wonder if they had also contributed to his ulcer.

A week later on 19 November 1894 he was back in hospital but it was more serious this time and indicated that during his first 11 months in India Arthur had committed his second “sin”. This time he was suffering from gonorrhoea and he remained in hospital for 24 days – the treatment is illegible except it appears to include some sort of injections. Just over 8 months later he was readmitted to hospital on 27 August 1895 suffering from the same condition and he remained in hospital for 5 months at the end of which he was recommended to be invalided home. This did not happen until just over 3 months later when he embarked on HMS Malabar where he spent the whole of the 26 day voyage in hospital, it was noted his condition improved during the voyage. He disembarked at Newry in Ireland where he spent another 35 days in hospital and by this time he was also suffering from rheumatism.

On 22 August 1896 Arthur was posted to Dublin but 3 months later was back in hospital being treated for “Ague, contracted on foreign service”. Ague was usually another term for malaria and this would appear to be the case as Arthur was administered quinine.

On 7 January 1897 Arthur was posted back to Oxford and on 29 October 1898 he was transferred to the Army Reserve “on the expiration of his 1st period of army service” and 29 October 1898 was indeed the 7th anniversary of his enlistment.

On 4 December 1899 Arthur was recalled to the Colours and three days later reported for service in Oxford. At this stage he admitted to being married and having a son born six weeks earlier in the Small Heath area of Birmingham.

Arthur sailed for South Africa with the 1st Battalion of the OLI on 22 December 1899 aboard the Gaika. The QSA clasps Arthur was to receive show he was present when they caught up with Cronje’s rearguard on 16 February 1900 and ten of their number were killed in action. He was also present two days later on the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg, known at the time as Bloody Sunday owing to the Imperial losses, which included 2 officers and 5 men of the OLI killed in action plus an officer and a man who subsequently died of the wounds they received on that day.

We can also say that Arthur was no longer with his battalion when they became involved in the action near Driefontein in early March 1900 because he was never awarded the Driefontein clasp. I can find no list of the approximately 40 men of the OLI who were wounded on Bloody Sunday so it could be that Arthur was wounded on Bloody Sunday or in the subsequent days of the Battle of Paardeberg. If he was it does not appear to have been severe enough for him to be hospitalised.

Athur’s medical records do provide the next definite news of him as on 27 August 1901 he was admitted to Wynberg Hospital suffering from (a) gonorrhoea (b) rheumatism. For the first he received potassium permanganate injections and for the second sodium salicylate (aspirin). KMnO₄ was a recognised treatment for gonorrhoea at the time but you don’t need to do too much on-line research to realise that it had already been debunked as a cure and merely caused the symptoms to temporarily disappear causing a false diagnosis of cure. The cure had to wait for WW2 and the development of antibiotics.

Arthur was invalided home 23 October 1901 aboard the Canada. He would have arrived back home during November 1901 but he was not “retransferred” to the Army reserve until 2 May 1902 – his medical records do not show he was hospitalised during this time but that may just be an omission. On the 12th anniversary of his original enlistment i.e. 28 October 1903 he was fully discharged from the army. In the interim he was awarded a £5 War Gratuity.

Arthur started out his military career as a Private and ended it as a Private but for 7 months in 1897, whilst he was in Oxford, he was a Lance-Corporal but at the end of the 7 months he was “displaced” back to the rank of Private, a term I have never come across before.

The 1911 Census found Arthur and Elizabeth living in the Warwickshire village of Meriden. Arthur was a “General Carter” which probably means he scraped a living by transporting goods for others on an ad hoc basis. They now had two sons.

Arthur is missing from the June1921 Census but Elizabeth and her, by now, three children can be found living in two rooms “above 159 Bilston Road, Wolverhampton”. Bilston Road has undergone complete redevelopment since then but I suspect they were living in a small flat over either a shop or business premises. The return was completed by Elizabeth’s eldest son and he gave her the marital status of “Married” rather than “Widow” implying Arthur was still alive,

Find a Grave supplied the answer to the question. One of its members has examined the burial records for Merridale Cemetery in Wolverhampton and in effect reported his findings on Find a Grave. He found that an Arthur Blick received a pauper’s burial there having died in All Saints Hospital on 22 November 1921 aged 47 years. The age is spot on for somebody born in July 1874.

Elizabeth remarried in Wolverhampton in the summer of 1922 and became Mrs Burnham – thereafter the trail goes cold. However, creators of family trees on Ancestry show all three children lived to a good age but also claim there was a fourth child as evidenced by the 1911 Census return showing one already dead. It would appear there was a son born in 1897 who only lived a few weeks and Arthur’s condition at the time could well have played a part in that.

Now finally moving on to Arthur’s medals. Firstly his indiscretion in India robbed him of a medal because after he was invalided home from India his battalion were posted to the North West Frontier to put down a rebellion by Afridi Tribesmen and for their troubles they all received the India Medal (1896) with the Tirah 1897-98 & Punjab Frontier 1897-98 clasps attached.

For his service in the South African War Arthur received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with three clasps - Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg & South Africa 1901. This I believe is an unusual clasp combination, probably to the point of rareness, I think saying it was unique might be going a bit far. Considering the obvious post war financial straits of Arthur and his family I suspect at some time it would have been pawned or sold.

For more information about the men Arthur left behind in India and a memorial to those who did not return, visit:

www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/tirah_campaign/index.html