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Liverpool medals

QSA and KSA medals to 5351 Pte Harry Brown 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment.

Picture courtesy of Spink

QSA (5) Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (1348 Pte R. Lowther, 2nd Wilts: Regt)

R. Lowther served attached to the 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment during the Boer War, from the Liverpool Regiment.

Now here's an interesting thing.

A while ago I asked a friend to retrieve files from a disk (Who uses those anymore?) which I found and had labelled as being sent to me in 2007 from a Peter Archibald in NSW Australia. Attached to the disk was a note with his email address and "Purchased in a flea market in the early 1960's at Manly, Sydney. 2nd Wilts January 1900". This attached photograph was the only thing on the disk.

I remember that an email from this guy said that he had purchased this as a framed picture and "2nd Wilts January 1900" was scribbled on the back of the frame.

I've tried to email him, but the email address is no longer valid, so I have no way of contacting him. In fact I don't know if he's even still alive and know nothing about him. I can't even remember how he got in contact with me.

Anyway, only a few days ago I came across the same image on Amazon of all places, for sale from a company called Science Source.

I don't know how images get to be owned by a company, but I regularly see images on stock image company websites which should actually be Public Domain as the images originated from well known companies from that time eg Underwood or Keystone and are long out of copyright.

Anyway, the attached image came to me from Mr Archibald many years ago.

Now, look at the Officer in front of the soldiers. He's a bit taller than the rest. I think it could be Lt Henry Paton Rogers. He commanded A Company in January 1900 and died of Enteric fever on 13/05/1900. I'm thinking that if it is him (and I don't know of any other particularly tall officers at this time) that the soldiers in this photograph would probably be A Company. I've asked the Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment Museum to have a look.

What exactly are the soldiers doing? Anything else apart from marching?

The only action in January 1900 was a reconnaissance in force at Rietfontein, Cape Colony on 25/01/1900.

I have no idea of how an Infantry Company formed up back in 1900, but assume that this would be how they might look before they extended into a firing line? Or do Infantry spread out before moving off?

Anyway I wanted to share the image.

A member of the Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment Museum has pointed out that the soldiers look rather well turned out, so believes that this is some sort of parade. The officer has not yet been conclusively identified.

The state of the soldiers' uniforms would certainly fit with early war appearance. The Wiltshires had just arrived so their uniforms would still have been in their best condition.

A simple, but nice photograph.

I'm Batman!
Before I share this research with the forum I just wanted to say that only in forums like this one, can like-minded people from all walks of life who share a common interest, communicate with people they have not met before and share information and knowledge on the subject that links them. On this forum we freely share a great deal of information and contribute to one another’s research. That is what this forum is all about and it works well, as will be seen from the research I am about to share, which I have conducted with forum member Mike Haigh and Mr Neil Clifford whom I hope will read this post.

I have been working with the Archivist from the Rifles Berkshire & Wiltshire Museum on final checks of the Boer War medal rolls before my first book ‘War on the Veldt. The Anglo-Boer War experiences of the Wiltshire Regiment’ is published, it having been produced in association with the museum who will publish the book.

Two Private soldiers have been found whom it was unable to link to a particular 2nd Battalion Company, 3633 Pte Daniel John Amblin and 4223 Pte Herbert James Thompson. I remember that when first working on the medal rolls that I initially thought that they must both have served with the Mounted Infantry to have QSA medal clasps of BF, CC, OFS, TH, RL and LN, but neither were included in the Mounted Infantry nominal roll. They have exactly the same QSA medal clasp entitlement and there is only one other with the same clasps:

Maj (Brevet Lt Col by the time the rolls were created) Walter Dally Jones who was a Staff Intelligence Officer and the Headquarters Staff Press Censor and one other who has the same minus one, Lt Col Arthur Sandbach who appears on the Wiltshire medal roll, but was a Royal Engineers Officer. He was Buller’s Head of Intelligence at the start of the war and was later Assistant Adjutant General for Intelligence.

I never included the two privates in the Mounted Infantry nominal roll, because they don’t appear as such in the QSA medal roll. They appear separately, together on a page where entitlement was signed as correct by Lt Col Jones and the record was made at the War Office, London (D Branch – Intelligence).



These men were not included in the Field Intelligence Department medal roll because they weren’t Agents and were not employed by that Department, so why were they often so far away from the Regiment and have the same QSA medal entitlement as a senior Intelligence Officer?

I concluded that Amblin and Thompson must have been Batmen to Maj Jones and possibly Lt Col Sandbach who had similar clasps of BF, OFS, TH, RL and LN (Minus CC as awarded to the others).

Regarding Amblin, I found that on the 1881 Census, he was seven years old and born in Slaughterford, Wiltshire, the second son of Dray Man Henry Amblin and his wife Ann and living in Slaughterford Street with his elder brother William, younger sister Mary and two younger brothers Henry and Job.



Mike found Amblin’s Wedding Certificate dated the 17th of August 1907, where he is a thirty-four year old Butler. He married thirty-two year old Florence Osborne Warsop at St Thomas’s Church Hammersmith which is now St Nicholas’ Greek Orthodox Church located at 60 Godolphin Road London W12 8JF (Now Shepherd’s Bush). The marriage certificate shows that Amblin lived at nearby 19 Devonport Road and his bride lived equally nearby at 25 Hetley Road.



Then I found Amblin on the Family Search website in the 1901 Census as a Pte in the Wiltshire Regiment living with Maj Jones and his family and three other servants at Elm Park Road, Chelsea London. Mike then found the actual Census page which confirmed the house number as number 21 (Now 21 Elm Park Road, Chelsea, London SW3 6DA).



Incidentally, if anyone is walking by this property and could provide a photograph, that would be much appreciated as the Google Maps Streetview image is rather unclear.

So from examining Amblin’s medal clasp entitlement and other documents we were able to confirm that he was indeed Batman to Maj Walter Dally Jones. Daniel Amblin died at Marylebone, London in 1908 aged just fifty-four years and sadly just one year after his marriage to Florence.

Then, by chance I made contact with Amblin’s great Nephew Mr Neil Clifford who confirmed that the family were aware that after the Boer War he had become Butler to the officer he had served in South Africa. The family do not have possession of Daniel’s QSA medal. He was not awarded the KSA medal.

Another side note: Lt Col W D Jones’ wooden case is currently for sale on EBay.



Perhaps Daniel Amblin carried this case.

During searches for Daniel Amblin’s service record, which was found to no longer exist, Mike found two other Wiltshire Regiment soldiers with the same surname, and I was able to confirm that these were two of Daniel’s brothers, 3602 Pte William Joseph Amblin and 4426 Pte Henry George Amblin. Both had served with the 1st Battalion and Henry (Whose record was badly burnt courtesy of the WW2 Luftwaffe raid on London which damaged the National Archives) had transferred to the Royal Field Artillery in 1903, fought in WW1 and had been awarded the Military Medal for bravery in an incident which occurred on the 27th of September 1918 during the Battle of Canal Du Nord. This was confirmed by Neil who is the Great Grandson of Henry. The family do not have possession of his medals.



This is Henry Amblin

Now what about 4223 Pte Herbert James Thompson?

Mike found him in the 1881 Census aged 14 living with his family at 14 Walpole Place, Woolwich., He, two brothers and his father were employed at the Woolwich Arsenal.



Mike found him again in the 1911 Census employed as a Butler.



Then Mike found his one year Short Attestation record showing that he had joined the RASC and been as a Cook and Driver after employment in the Officer’s Mess. He was discharged on the 11th of October 1918 no longer physically fit for War Service.



It has not been possible to confirm that Thompson was a Batman to Lt Col Sandbach, or a cook or second servant to Maj Jones, but once again, from examining his medal clasp entitlement and other documents we were able to confirm that he was indeed employed in a similar role to Daniel Amblin.

Thank you to Mike and Neil for their assistance with this research. I know I dragged you into this, but I hope that you enjoyed solving this puzzle as much as I did, and I hope that the forum members enjoyed the story. If anyone can contribute to this thread please do so.

Ian

I absolutely enjoyed helping solve this puzzle and have been only too glad to help. You did all the hard work of tying it all together Ian and very well done indeed. What a fantastic story and great to have been part of it. Thank you for all your hard work on this excellent Forum. Well done again and I cannot wait for a copy of your book.

Mike