TOPIC:

Hello

I have been researching a standard pair of WW1 campaign medals (British War Medal & Victory Medal), luckily this pair have half a dozen or so original service documents attached.

One of these is a character certificate (Form B.2067) given to the soldier on his discharge from the TA to re-enlist in the regular army.

In the section marked citations/medals/decorations it has the following text:
"King V Queen - South Africa Medal".





So i have been digging around and i am wondering if this could be the KSA/QSA pair?

The soldiers name was Edward Durrant, he was born 27/1/1882 in Kingstone Upon Thames Surrey and according to his documents he was a former tinsmith. Now i am not sure what the average age was for service in the Boer War but i guess has would have been pretty young 17-18 perhaps??

I have no documents or other information relating to his service record prior to 1914 and it looks like he served the entire 1914-1918 campaign and was then discharged on medical grounds.

Took the step of running a search on Durrant (and variants) and it came up with the following possibles but there was no extra data to assist:

Durrant A E 7473 Imperial Yeomanry (unlikely as he was a VC winner and too old)
Durrant P 5397 The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) - now our man was in the Buffs in WW1 but wrong initial?!
Durance E 5983 Royal Engineers - again right initials and he did later serve in the Labour Corp in WW1.
Durant E 6134 North Staffordshire Regiment - again right initial but not sure if it was Edward?

The only likely hit that i turned up was this one:

Durrant Edward Born 1880 Kingston Surrey - this record had an archive refernce of W096 Militia?

I have attached the form in question in case that helps and any information that you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help - and can i add please keep up the good work. Sites like these are priceless for amateur researchers like me.

Cheers
Dr Gonzo

Dr Gonzo,

It looks like you have been busy with the research already.

Looking at the QSA rolls, there is a definite possible:

5524 Pte E Durrant, 3rd East Kent Regiment. QSA and KSA issued

Have you seen the papers for E Durrant of the militia. They are available at the NA and on FindMyPast.

Regards
David

Hi David,

Thanks for the swift reply.

The info from the rolls looks promising is it an Edward? Do you know if it contains any other info, service, campaigns etc also would it have details of clasps on the KSA/QSA that sort of thing?

Would like to know also how can i obtain a copy, fees so on.

Would he have been particulalrly young for that campaign? Are there many soliders who survived active service in both campaigns?

I havent purchased any papers yet as i was unsure what exactly they might contain as the NA listing didnt have a code for WO96 Militia for some reason.

Are you able to shed light on that document type?

Look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks
Dr Gonzo (mike)