TOPIC:

I am new to this site and I am searching for information on any of my paternal great uncles who may have fought in the ABW. Their surname was PETTTIT and they were originally from Port Elizabeth and later on lived near Kroonstad in the Free State. Their first names were : Hobart, Courtney and Robert. Born in South Africa

My maternal great uncle was Reginald Vaux BLAYNEY and he served in the Cape Mounted Rifles. Born in either Ireland or Portsmouth in England.

The third relative was my grandfather Robert Henry Trevor Penruddock HARRIS. His father was Admiral of the British Fleet at Simonstown. As far as I am aware my grandfather served as an ordinary soldier.

I would love information on any of the above - thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

Welcome Eve,

There were a few Pettits who received medals for the Boer War. Including duplicated, they are:

A Pettit 86th Company Imperial Yeomanry
A Pettit 2nd Battalion The Buffs E K
A Pettit 1st Battalion Port Elizabeth Town Guard
A Pettit Victorian Mounted Rifles
A Pettit 3rd Battery Northamptonshire
A Pettit First Battalion The Border
A Pettit Victorian Mounted Rifles
A Pettit 3rd Battery Northamptonshire
A E Pettit 6th New Zealand Mounted Rifles
A E Pettit 6th New Zealand Mounted Rifles
A E Pettit Rand Rifles
A E Pettit 1st Battalion Scots Guards
Albert E Pettit 1st Battalion Scots Guards
Alfred Pettit Rosmead Town Guard
C Pettit 48th Company Imperial Yeomanry
C Pettit 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire
C Pettit Coldstream Guards
C Pettit Coldstream Guards
D Pettit 2nd Battalion The Buffs E K
D C Pettit Junior Willowmore Town Guard
D C Pettit Senior Willowmore Town Guard
E Pettit 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire
E S Pettit Fourth New Zealand
F Pettit Steinacker's Horse
F Pettit Army Service
F Pettit 3rd Battery Northamptonshire
F Pettit 3rd Battery Northamptonshire
G Pettit 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards
G Pettit 3rd High Light Infantry
G Pettit 3rd Battalion Highland Light Infantry
G Pettit 18th Hussars
G Pettit 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles
G Pettit Victorian Mounted Rifles
G Pettit 2nd Draft Volunteer Service Company 2nd Northamptonshire
G Pettit 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards
G Pettit 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles
G Pettit Victorian Mounted Rifles
George Pettit 5th 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles
H Pettit G Battery Royal Horse Artillery
H W Pettit Coldstream Guards
H W Pettit Coldstream Guards
J Pettit 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps
J Pettit 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps
J Pettit 2nd Battalion The Buffs E K
J E Pettit
J E Pettit
J J Pettit Coldstream Guards
M Pettit Steytlerville Town Guard
N H Pettit 102nd Company Imperial Yeomanry
P A C Pettit 2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles
R G Pettit 4th Battalion Australian Commonwealth Horse
R J Pettit 19th Prince of Wales's Own Hussars
R J Pettit 19th Hussars
Robert Pettit 2nd Battalion The Queen's
Robert Pettit 2nd Battalion The Queens
S E Pettit Base Depot Imperial Yeomanry
S E Pettit 35th/53rd Squadron 11th Battery Imperial Yeomanry
Samuel Pettit Rosmead Town Guard
T Pettit 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers
W Pettit 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry
W Pettit 4th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers
W Pettit 2nd Battery Royal Field Artillery
W Pettit 11th Divisional Ammunition Column Prace Title-Vith Swante Divisional Ammunition Column Prace Slation Uoluheiter
W Pettit 2nd Battery Royal Field Artillery
W Pettit 4th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers
Wm Pettit Steytlerville Town Guard
Y Pettit 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers

If you go to this page angloboerwar.com/unit-information/town-guards/2610-petg and enter Pettit as the search term, you will see the 2 men listed, A and RJ.

There is not very much information about the PE Town Guard unfortunately.

Blayney should be easier to research as there are records for the CMR. There is 2172 Corporal W R V Blayney who was at Wepener and received the QSA and KSA.

Eve,

There is a RHTP Harris serving in the South African Constabulary as E Division 347 2nd Sergeant. He served in the SAC until 30 Nov 1901 having previously served as 619 Corporal in the Provisional Mounted Police (where he had no prior service). His medal entitlement is QSA with clasps CC, OFS and South Africa 1901.

There are records for the SAC so it may be possible to find more information on him.

Hello Eve,

William Reginald Vaux Blayney enlisted into the CMR as 2172 Private on the 25th September 1892 in Cape Town, he was 22 years old at the time.

QSA with CC, Wepener, Wittebergen and Tvl.
KSA with both date clasps.

Defaulters book clean, no entries.

Regards
Adrian

My goodness - and I thought that Pettit was a fairly unusual surname! But I don't think that any of these are my great uncles - most of them seem to be English regiments and surely South Africans wouldn't be enrolled in them? And the PE one seems to have the wrong first name. One of their sons is still alive. I will have to ask my cousins up in Bloemfontein if he knows if and where they were involved.
Thanks so much for your help so far.

Thank you so much. He was an intersting man - an artist as well as a soldier who did drawings that were used in newspaper reports. Would anyone be interested in a scan of one that I have of a soldier battling to get his horse across a river?