TOPIC:

Hello, I am planning to visit The NA in Kew. Would the Boer War records of the Lancashire Fusiliers be there please? Specifically, I want to see if 6129 H May is my Granddad

Thanks in anticipation

Kind regards
Anne

Hello Anne,
The Lancashire Fusiliers museum is now in Bury and would be worth a visit, rather than a trip to Kew, what do you actually know about your grandfather and why do you think that Henry May was your grandfather?
I can send you May's service papers, he had originally joined the Devonshire Regiment in 1889, before transfer to the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1898.
Regards Frank Kelley

ronnoco100 wrote: Hello, I am planning to visit The NA in Kew. Would the Boer War records of the Lancashire Fusiliers be there please? Specifically, I want to see if 6129 H May is my Granddad

Thanks in anticipation

Kind regards
Anne

Hello Frank - you have already answered my question. It was a shot in the dark in my quest to find details of Granddad before 1911. All I know is what my Dad and Uncles told us.
He was born in Liverpool circa 1884
His parents both died when he was 13
He ran away from home when he heard his siblings arguing about where he would live
He fought in the Boer War as a despatch rider and was shot then picked up by Canadian Doctors
It was discovered he was only 15 and so dismissed.
I'm not 100% sure of his name - if it was William Henry May or Harry.

I found H May in the Lancashire Fusiliers and hoped it may be him.
By your mention of join up papers it is obvious it is not my Granddad so thank you for clearing that up.
I fear I will never get to the bottom of Granddads early life.
Thanks
Anne

Hello Anne,
Okay, well Henry May was into his 30's when his was discharged so you can forget about him.
Boy's could and often did join the army, quite openly and not just in a fraudulent manner, although, this latter was brushed under the carpet a great deal, the living standards of the population were just so poor, that if you had a young man come before you, who was very keen to join and looked the part, then a blind eye was often turned.
Don't forget, it was rather differant than today and you did not need to show a birth certificate, all you had to do was pass a medical examination and so many did not and indeed could not.

It was a completely differing situation in those days, for example, if you lived in Ashton under Lyne, you might walk to Hartshead on a nice warm sunny day and then pop into the "Heroe's of Waterloo" public house for a gill or two of gin or rum.
Then instead of just going back home, you could well find yourself going across the road to Ashton Barracks and before you knew where you were, you could end up in the "Receiving Room" actually being given a bed-cot, then being woken at 06.00am the following day, taken before a doctor and being issued uniform, being sent to the Training Company after breakfast.
It really could be as easy as that, you just went out for a walk and in less than twenty four hours you were serving Queen Victoria, a far cry from the way things are done today, it takes about a year these days, to do what was so often done in just a few hours!
So really, the army was always very keen to get all it could, a 14 year old could join, with the rank of "boy" and under certain circumstances, he might find himself out on campaign a very short time later, so not at all unusual really.

I always smile at the term granddad when it is used on here, as the war was concluded one hundred and twelve years ago, moreover, family stories often end up rather distorted over so many years, notwithstanding, you need to find out what his name was before you can even think about taking this matter any further, May, is a very common name and there are lots of possibles, although, if you are saying that he was a casualty, the field becomes rather narrower.
Anyway, I wish you bon chance,
Regards Frank Kelley

Thank you for that informative reply.. definitely interesting reading.. I think Granddad may have changed his name, he was possibly the child of an affair and the couple married when his first wife died.. that would also explain the lack of any of his 'siblings' being willing to take him in.. family stories get mixed up or maybe Granddad told different stories to his sons. My husband is insistent that he was on the run, said in jest, but you never know.

The elements of the Boer War regarding getting machine gunned and getting picked up by Canadian medics seemed too detailed to be false so I will continue my quest (10 years since I started on his trail). I was only 5 when he died and have only one memory of him, being sat on his knee but the smell of soap and tweed clearly brings him back for me.

Your kind replies have been really helpful

Anne

Hello Anne,
If you believe that he served with the Army or Imperial Yeomanry, you really need to know what his name was and then you can take a careful look through WO96,WO97,WO128, WO363 and WO364, but, his papers may not have survived anyway, so really, of course, you may never know for certain.
Regards Frank