TOPIC:

Susie,

What great photographs and thank you QSA Mike.

Well, please everyone get involved here, I think his QSA medal is the 1st on the left and looking at what I think is the KSA next to it with the usual two bars, I would say that his QSA HAS four or five bars to it, as per the newspaper article. If so, then this man served with another regiment in South Africa other than the Suffolk's (Please see the attachment to my earlier post above).

Please add comment to this everyone.

Susie, I presume that you know where the medals are, therefore (and I know this is easy for me to say) can you not write to the person who has them and simply ask to be told the details from them? After all, it is your Great Grandfather too. Maybe you will be pleasantly surprised. Then the forum members can tell you what he got up to in South Africa.

Good luck.

Kind regards

Ian

Can anyone help any further?

I really do hope that the forum members can help Susie solve this puzzle.

Susie, good luck!

Kind regards
Ian

Just a thought: do the UK National Archives hold rolls of the LSGC and the MSM? Say before 1918 to fit in with what we SEEM to know. I do realise that a number of F.Clarkes are likely to be on one or the other; but not both! Perhaps someone with deep experience of the NA might be able to advise Susie on this.
Otherwise, given what we don't know, the only hope is to find out what naming is on the medals.
Regards
IL.

Morning Ian,
Happy new year to you, can you see a MSM and/or LSGC in the photograph?
What do you suppose the first medal is, at first glance, I thought a QSA, but, now I'm not so sure, the second medal could well be though, there is a good deal of glare in the first photograph, but, I assume a QSA/KSA pair.
I thought the last two ribbon on the bar in the second photograph were a LSGC and an MSM, do you think the first is a QSA.
Looking at that again, I would think a QSA/KSA, a 1914/1914-15 Star, a LSGC and MSM, what do you think?
Supposing that is correct, that just leaves the fourth and fifth medals in the first photograph, which would then have to be a BWM and a AVM.
Regards Frank

LinneyI wrote: Just a thought: do the UK National Archives hold rolls of the LSGC and the MSM? Say before 1918 to fit in with what we SEEM to know. I do realise that a number of F.Clarkes are likely to be on one or the other; but not both! Perhaps someone with deep experience of the NA might be able to advise Susie on this.
Otherwise, given what we don't know, the only hope is to find out what naming is on the medals.
Regards
IL.

Susie,
The LSGC appeared in regimental orders and on a mans papers, although the MSM was gazetted, it would as be worth your while taking a look in WO23 and WO101 for Clarke, in fact from memory, all the immediate ones from, I think, 1915 to about 1928 were also actually published in a book with the actual London Gazette reference and are searchable by name, but, you then would still have to look at the relevant gazette for the particular mans regiment/corps.
So that is one way to go, another is, given your second photograph, which very clearly shows a WO1 in uniform, would be to look at every Frederick/Fredrick John Clarke, every Frederick Clarke and every Frederick J Clark in WO372, as in the second photograph he wears the ribbon for the Star, we can assume the photo is circa 1917 or later, the index cards in WO372 will normally show the highest rank held, whilst actually employed in the service, that would certainly narrow the field, lots of men with that name, but, not many with that particular rank.
Then all that is needed is to take each particular man you have found, look at WO329 for any other information relating to his Great War medals which may not appear in WO372 and search for any surviving papers in WO363 and WO364, but, you should note that a manual search in WO363 is not possible for obvious reasons, a great deal was lost when the Army Records Office was damaged during the blitz.
Now, regarding this latter, I had already looked at the available folio and nobody jumped out at me with this name, but, I based that on the original information that you gave regarding birth details and earlier service in the Suffolk Regiment.
You should also note that some have not been indexed properly and you can, on occasion, find yourself looking at a particular man and upon looking at the next folio, you find yourself looking at a completely different man.
Anyway, easier by far, to just talk to the family and find those medals, not easy things to just loose given they are mounted for wear, but, of course, very easy to pawn or have sold.
Regards Frank

Frank,

I am inclined to agree with you regarding the medals. I will have a closer look, well as much as possible, because as you say, it is difficult.

Kind regards
Ian