TOPIC:

Can anyone help me to clarify something for me please? My Great Grandfather Frank Radcliffe served in the Boer War. I believe he was a Ganger for the Natal Government Railways. At Findmypast.co.uk his record comes up on medal roll 279 page 0. Yet I have found a Ganger on page 224 which looks like the name J Radcliffe yet it could be F. I know my GGF worked on the railways and died near Newcastle, South Africa of TB in about 1903.

Radcliffe,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your message.

I have had a look at the roll for the NGR. There is a Radcliffe on the roll and like, you, I think the initial is more J than F. I compared the Js and Fs for the next few pages and found a much more distinct F on page 226. But, the roll may be wrong.



I cannot see anyone else on the Ancestry list with this surname serving on the railways. That said, Ancestry had indexed his name as Radeliffe which wasn't very helpful.

Best wishes
David

Gentlemen,
I too, could only find a man of that name in WO100/279 page 224 which is the Natal Government Railways supplementary roll, there was someone in the Imperial Military Railways with the surname, but, would suggest the former to be the man in question here.
David, I have always found on line search engines to be a pain, as I said to another forum member earlier today, they are subject to error because of transcription, which seems not to be done by people here?
Regards Frank

Thanks Gentlemen,

Would you mind sending me a screenshot of the Radcliffe on page 226. I have a theory that one is my Great Grandfather Frank and the other James is his brother. It would make more sense that they would both be working for the Railways as Frank was working on the railways at Easington Colliery, Durham.

Would they have both been civilians as part of the NGR and employed as foremen to ensure the railways were built or maintained properly?

I think I have tracked down J. Radcliffe's medal to a collector in this country.

Thanks for your assistance

Kind regards

Frank

Frank,
There is no man with that name on WO100/279 page 226, I think David was making a direct reference to the initial and not the surname.
Regards Frank

Frank R,

Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my last post. The J Radcliffe image came from WO100/279 image 226, roll page 224. I normally quote the number on the roll rather than the Ancestry image to avoid this confusion as I should have on this occasion.

Kind regards
David