TOPIC:

Hi
I'm having a problem trying to work out which J. Bales - I have two to choose from but which actually came from my town (East Dereham) and was born in 1875-7. I know from a newspaper clipping I have, that he was invalided home with enteric fever to Woolwich Hospital before actually going home to Toftwood and then dying from heart disease caused by the fever. He was buried in East Dereham Cemetery on 27th February 1901.
The problem is having searched for a Boer War Record I've found two both having the same name and regiment on.
J. Bales S/N 2541, Pte. 2nd Batt. Norfolk Regiment - awarded QSA Medal Clasps Paardeburg, Cape Colony
J. Bales S/N 4283, Pte. 2nd Batt. Norfolk Regiment - awarded QSA Medal Clasps Paardeberg, Johannesburg, Cape Colony.

Is there any way of finding out which of the two he could be as he does have a very interesting life story before going to fight - basically he was quite a naughty lad before attending a reform school in 1890 (made to by the court as it was his 2nd offence) - I have all these records and censuses for the family, his baptism and DOB and his funeral report from the papers as well as the court appearance records.

thanks and take care, Kitty

Hi

2541 pte j bales was discharged as a private on 1sg April 1902 so the other j bales seems to be your man

Thanks trooper922 –
That was quick.

Can I please ask where you got that information from?

I admit even though I've been doing it for almost 50 years now most of my local history work has only been on WWI or other normal town activities such as Pubs, shops etc.
Having trawled through about 100 years of our local paper I found several letters sent by soldiers from town serving in S. A. and so I’ve now made the first chapter of my book about the Great War on these soldiers as an introduction. Having said that I'm now hooked into reading about the Boer War and how it affected the soldiers who went there.

So you see regarding the Boer War I've still got my 'L plates' on, so to speak.

However, with this chapter 1 at over 80 A4 pages, it might well end up as its own book on the Boer War along with its period in town, especially if I include the Transvaal War too.

Thanks and take care, Kitty

Hello Kitty

Service papers survive for Bales 2541 on FindmyPast that shows the discharge date.

Positive proof that your man is Bales 4283 is in Soldiers Effects on Ancestry. The record confirms the date of death and place.

Regards
Meurig

Thanks Guys
And thanks for making me think outside the box once more -

Now I know the answer -

I was talking about Joseph Bales, the eldest son of James and Alice Bales. The reason I looked into this family originally was because the mother was Australian and a lot of Derehamites had gone to Canada, New Zealand and several other parts i.e. China for one. But nobody to Australia which I found a little strange. Enter James and Alice Bales - never could find her maiden name and still cann't.

Then I found Joseph Bales who died just after returning from the 2nd Boer War and so I decided to look deeper than normal into the family history - I'm a local historian - though now I can't personally see the difference really. Anyway getting ready for the WWI 100th - 5 years earlier you understand to get the research done well - I was asked to do several different displays and shows for that year. After 2014 I decided that having done all this research I might as well write a book on it as there was nothing similar apart from a 32 page booklet written as a diary - it's good but there's so much more.

So hence Chapter 1 on the town at the turn of 20th Century and the Boer War Volunteers etc. - the town itself sent just over 40 and the 3rd VBNR centred in town sent 113 if the papers are to be believed - and so far they are pretty near the mark when I cross reference them.

Why the thanks - you made me look again at Censuses and realise that I hadn't actually checked a couple the 1901 or 1911 ones for James and Alice - admittedly I had done them before all this stuff was available online and Joseph died in 1901 so why bother.



On the 1901 census there is a James that survived more than a few months unlike the two before him. The family had 8 children but only 4 were still alive on the 1911 census. Joseph was the eldest of them all and there are many notes on various reports i.e. school, church etc. that state he was awkward, hard of learning, stupid, even! - couldn't or wouldn't learn to "read, write or 'rithematic" as they used to say.

Anyway he was caught stealing and so sentenced in court to be flogged (12 of the birch) & get 1 day imprisonment for the first time,
a year later a second charge was brought - for cruelty to a turkey by swinging it round and then striking it with a stone - this got him 14 days hard labour (aged 13) and 5 years reformatory school.

He came back to town as a labourer for a short time and joined the town’s 3rdVBNR so when asked he volunteered to go to South Africa he went.

From all accounts he seems to have turned his life around for the good – pity so many died from enteric fever.

As to James the other J. Bales I've got all his record now and he's also gone in the book - but he's an uncle from Gressenhall.



Thanks and take care, Kitty

Kitty
Welcome to this forum. If you do become more immersed in the ABW, I hope you will continue to contribute to it. I recently posted a comment here (or elsewhere?) on how much I admire the work done by 'local historians', so you are already on my 'A list'!
Regards
Brett