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Able Seaman Arthur Hopkins, of Skewen, a village near Neath, Glamorgan, was drowned when the 'Lady Cairns,' out of Garston, Liverpool, was sunk in Dublin Bay, on Sunday 20th March 1904. newspapers.library.wales/view/3376747/3376755/161/LIVERPOOL

Soon afterwards, relatives received his medal for service in the South Africa War.

"The disaster to the Lady Cairns, of Swansea, in Dublin Bay, a short while ago, was forcibly recalled to the relatives of Mr. Arthur Hopkins, Post-office, Skewen, a member of the ill-fated crew, when they received his South Africa medal, with clasps - South Africa, 1901, South Africa, 1902, and Cape Colony, 1903. Private Hopkins served two years in the Kaffrarian Rifles."
Evening Express, Monday 9th May 1904

I can find no other Skewen-related references to Arthur Hopkins, although his family definitely did reside at the Skewen post office during the war.

The arrival of his medal through the post must have been a very emotional event for his family. I'm sure it would have been much prized by the family.

djb wrote: The arrival of his medal through the post must have been a very emotional event for his family. I'm sure it would have been much prized by the family.

Something I've been wondering about - does it ever happen, over a hundred years after the event, that there is a named medal from the ABW, and for there to be no information on the person that it was awarded to?

BereniceUK wrote:

djb wrote: The arrival of his medal through the post must have been a very emotional event for his family. I'm sure it would have been much prized by the family.

Something I've been wondering about - does it ever happen, over a hundred years after the event, that there is a named medal from the ABW, and for there to be no information on the person that it was awarded to?

Another interesting find Berenice!

QSAs issued to civilians have almost no research potential as the Army kept no real records, so the only record of their service is the medal roll - an initial and a surname.

For Hopkins there should be an attestation paper which may link him to Skewen and/or his family.

I have fairly quick access to the Kaffrarian Rifles rolls-in my Ancestry shoebox left over from my purchase of a QSA a few months ago-there is only one Hopkins on the roll and he is 1723 Pte J. Hopkins entitled to a CC clasp only and an annotation "identical to 27840 Tpr Roberts Horse".

Georgegt351 wrote: I have fairly quick access to the Kaffrarian Rifles rolls-in my Ancestry shoebox left over from my purchase of a QSA a few months ago-there is only one Hopkins on the roll and he is 1723 Pte J. Hopkins entitled to a CC clasp only and an annotation "identical to 27840 Tpr Roberts Horse".

I try to take newspaper reports with a pinch of salt; with this one, where did they get the information about his service in the Kaffrarian Rifles?