TOPIC:

My latest find which provided me with a very interesting little research project:

William Arthur Bacon: Cape Town T.G, A.S.C, A.P.D and C.P.G Regt
(1875-1950)

William Arthur Bacon was born on the 31st July 1875. His baptism was solemnized in the Parish of St George the Martyr Southwark in the County of Surrey on the 29th August 1875.

William was the son of Henry and Emily Bacon and the family resided at 33 Great Suffolk Street in London.

The Father was a self employed Draper and according to the 1891 Census, he and his two elder Son’s, Henry and William worked as Draper assistants with him. This was the trade that William was to continue with for the rest of his life.

William was obviously also a man of adventure and at the age of 26 years traveled to South Africa and attested into the Cape Town T.G. This was completed on the 11th June 1901. He was given the Regimental number 66 and was attached to “B” Company. He was residing at 20 De Villiers Street in Cape Town at the time and was a Draper working for Fletchers Retail. His next of kin was noted as his Mother Emily Bacon living in Drakefell Rd, London.

The publication, “Town Guards of the Cape Peninsula” written by A.M.Davey and published in 1999 shows the Cape Peninsula Town Guard Formations as at early 1901. It is noted that many men joined Companies formed by the Firm’s that employed them. Bacon was employed by Fletchers Retail and could well have served at some point in number 15 Company known as ”Mansion House” which was also known as “Fletcher and Cartwright”. Fletcher and Cartwright was a department store on the corner of Adderley and Darling streets, retailing men's clothes and materials imported directly from Britain.

William Bacon did not stay in the Cape Town T.G for very long as he joined the ASC as a Civilian Clerk on the 29th July 1901. He served as a Civilian Clerk with the ASC until the 30th October 1902 when he was discharged due to the reduction of the establishment. These dates are taken from the ASC roll WO100/216 page 105. Bacon also appears on the APD roll WO100/230 pages 19 and 91 and this shows that he was engaged on the 29thJuly 1901 and that his engagement was terminated on the 31st December 1902. It is not clear if perhaps he was working for both the ASC and the APD at the same time or if he carried out the same kind of work for both hence the common engagement date.

Remarks on the APD roll pages show “Presumed to be identical with Civilian Clerk W.A. Bacon ASC”.
The ASC roll has the following remark “Medal with the Cape Colony, SA 1901 and SA 1902 clasps issued from the roll Civilian Clerks, Army Pay Department”

After the Boer War Bacon returned to his civilian employment at Frasers Retail and at some point joined Gleghorn and Harris which was a large department store in Adderley Street, Cape Town. William married Bertha Julia Bacon on the 18thJune 1909 in Cape Town. Bertha was born in Kent, England during 1880.This marriage produced a son, Colin Arthur Bacon.

On the 17th May 1918 and with WW1 still raging in Europe, Bacon decided to attest into the Cape Peninsula Garrison Regiment and was posted to “B” Company. This Regiment, which was always an Emergency Battalion, formed part of the Peninsula Defences. He was 42 years old at this time and living at Durban Road, Mowbray.

Little further is known of his life after the Great War but his wife Bertha, passed away on the 27th September 1946 in Cape Town at the age of 66 years.

William passed away on the 19th January 1950 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Observatory, Cape Town at the age of 74 years and 6 months.

His estate had movable property to the value of £5179.10 and all of this except for £100.00 which was left to Mrs Ethel Stroud of Thanet Road, Wigmore, Kent, England was left to William's Son, Colin Arthur Bacon.

Hello Adrian,
Very, very interesting and I can see why this pair would appeal to you, the attestations are both very nice to see, I like the latter, Citizen Force Reserve and the "God Save The King" below his signature in particular, did you find these locally?
Regards Frank

Hello Frank,

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, the attestation paper to the CPG Regt was found in Cape Town.

Whilst busy with my CP research I came across the entire lot, all 1100 and promptly set about copying all of them. I now have 5 medals out of a possible 1100 which by the way, are their sole entitlements unless they moved on and served in France etc. This was in essence a Veterans Regiment with the majority of the men having served during the Boer War and being around the 40-45 year old range.

The entire list of names is on the British medal forum.

Regards
Adrian

Wonderful little group Adrian

It's always been a source of mystery to me as to why some chaps who saw service in the ABW only enlisted for WWI service much later on towards the end of the conflict i.e. 1917/1918.

Where were they in 1914/15 when the fun started? They were certianly old enough.

Regards

Rory

Rory,

Thank you.

I have also though about that and the answer is perhaps- as he was a draper and was manufacturing mens clothing and considering his age, perhaps he was deemed to be "essential'(Production of Military Uniforms)and therefore could only attest into what was really the Town Guard of the day .

Regards
Adrian

Hello Adrian,
What I meant was, did you find the medals locally, imagines up an image of them being passed across the table at the Stoker's Arms or similar?
Regards Frank