TOPIC:

I have been trying to find out if my Great grandfather Samuel Holmes Murray (1860-1916) fought in the Boer War. He died in 1916 when he was serving with the South African Medical Corp, and i have found some references to a Samuel Murray who served in the Imperial Hospital Corps as an Orderly, does anyone know how i can go about getting any information on this Samuel Murray? My Great Grandfather, was born in India and must have moved to South Africa sometime before 1902 (when my Grandfather was born in South Africa). I have found a record of him living in Surrey in the 1881 Census and then he isnt in the 1901 Census. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about getting the information, i am in New Zealand so i cant get to the National Archives in the UK.
thanks

Hello, welcome here,
Okay, so quite a lot going on with this man/men, the obvious thing to do is if you know your great grandfather served in the SAMC in the Great War is to get hold of any surviving medal cards and papers for his time with the Union Forces from the SADF documentation centre in Pretoria, they might give you a clue to any SAMIF service in the Anglo Boer War.
The Samuel Murray you mention served in the Imperial Hospital Corps from the 3rd of April 1900 and took his discharge on the 10th of June in Howick.
He is clearly shown in WO100/249 with the Natal Clasp crossed out and he appears to have served in the Prince of Wales Light Horse as number 27634 Corporal, indeed, both the main and supplementary pages in WO100/264 show his entitlement to Cape Colony, Orange Free State and South Africa 1901 clasps, his service in the PWLH was from the 14th of January 1901 to the 22nd of July 1901.
It appears to suggest that he also served in Nesbitt's Horse to, but, I'm not happy that the man who did is one and the same, with service shown from the 27th of December 1899 UNTIL the 26th of November 1900, even Doctor Who would struggle to have served in two places at the same time.
However, rolls do contain errors and the way to prove or indeed disprove would be to take a very careful look at the surviving SAMIF papers at Kew, those for the Imperial Hospital Corps are in WO126/52-54, the Prince of Wales Light Horse in WO126/101-104 and finally, those for Nesbitt's Horse in WO126/95-98.
Good luck if you decide to take matters further, you will of course have to commission two researchers in both countries and to be quite honest, I would be surprised if you actually ended up with all three sets of papers from WO126, although, find a family match on any one of them and you have your man.
Frank Kelley.

muzz1969 wrote: I have been trying to find out if my Great grandfather Samuel Holmes Murray (1860-1916) fought in the Boer War. He died in 1916 when he was serving with the South African Medical Corp, and i have found some references to a Samuel Murray who served in the Imperial Hospital Corps as an Orderly, does anyone know how i can go about getting any information on this Samuel Murray? My Great Grandfather, was born in India and must have moved to South Africa sometime before 1902 (when my Grandfather was born in South Africa). I have found a record of him living in Surrey in the 1881 Census and then he isnt in the 1901 Census. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about getting the information, i am in New Zealand so i cant get to the National Archives in the UK.
thanks

Hi Frank, thank you for the wealth of information that you supplied. I have applied for my Great Grandfathers records from the SADF, but it seems to be a long process to get them. It is a pity that the National Archives records aren't online, as this would shed light on if one of the Samuels you mentioned was indeed my Great Grandfather if they list place of birth etc. Once again thank you for the information it gives me hope I maybe on the right track

It really should not be a long process whatsoever, who are you using?

Although I have had no need to get hold of SADF records during the past few years, I have heard that the process is now more difficult because of a petty bureaucracy flexing their muscles. It is sad when untalented people try to prove their worth.
Brett

Yes unfortunately it does seem to be taking a long time to get the information, and frustratingly there do not seem to be online records that I can access in the meantime.

Brett Hendey wrote: Although I have had no need to get hold of SADF records during the past few years, I have heard that the process is now more difficult because of a petty bureaucracy flexing their muscles. It is sad when untalented people try to prove their worth.
Brett