Monthly Archives: February 2011

South African Campaign of 1877-79

Casualty Rolls of the South African Campaign of 1877 – 79 (The Zulu Wars)

This Casualty Roll is not as easy to read as the previous blog entry but is still informative, especially if a member of your family served in the Zulu Wars.

If you have ever watched Zulu or Zulu Dawn, as I have many times – you can’t beat a good film, can you ? You will know of places such as Isandhlwana and Rorke’s Drift, but you may not know where they are.

It was at Rorke’s Drift where 150 soldiers defended a supply station against thousands of Zulu warriors and 11 of those very brave soldiers were awarded Britain’s most highest military decoration – The Victoria Cross, awarded for valour ‘in the face of the enemy’.

The information contained within the Roll is :- Army number (if applicable – Officers have no number) ; Rank ; Name ; Regiment ; Action i.e. KIA, Wounded, followed by place and date.

You may be familiar with such names as – 1373 Private Alfred Henry Hook, 2nd Btn 24th Foot, wounded at Rorke’s Drift on 23 January 1879, or 1362 Private Frederick Hitch, also from the 24th Foot, he was also wounded on 23 Janaury at Rorke’s Drift or even, 623 Sergeant Robert Maxfield again of the 24th Foot and KIA on 23 January.

The Casualty Rolls for the Zulu Wars can be found here

Afghan Campaign 1878-1880

The cd, Soldiers who died in The Great War is a good source for finding a soldier who was KIA or DoW in WW1.  Recently its counterpart for WW2 was also published  also on cd.  Both of these fantastic resources are now on pay per view sites and compliment the entries on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission with giving places of enlistment and cause of death i.e. Killed in Action or Died of Wounds.

But what do you do if your family member died in other conflicts.

I was recently sent a link to a very good site for the Afghan Campaign 1878-1880.  The information on the site gives the following information :-

Service number, rank, surname and christian name, regiment, how died or severity of wounds, place, date and remarks.  It is the remarks that are interesting.

For example, Captain Seymour Dun Barrow of the 10th Bengal Lancers was severely wounded at Patkao Shana on 1 July 1880, the remarks saying ‘ Incision to right forearm and left hand in a personal encounter with a nephew of Sultan Mahomed’.

Another entry for Lance Sergeant, 1583, William Cameron, 72nd Foot (Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders, KIA at Kandahar on 1st September 1880, the remarks state ‘Gunshot abdomen. ‘A grand specimen of a Highland soldier’.

Major John Cook, 5th Gurkha Regiment, Danger Wound, at Kabul on 12 December 1879, the remarks go on to say ‘Gunshot left leg. Awarded V.C. for Peiwar Kotal, 02 December 1878. Died of Wounds 19 December  1878’.

Or, 514 Colour Sergeant  Ge Jacobs, 72nd Foot (Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders), severely wounded at Kandahar on 1st September 1880.  He was awarded the DCM for Kabul, got a gunshot in the groin and was awarded bar to DCM.

Or, Private Jonathan Longworth, 32B/104, 1st Bn 12th Foot who was severely wounded at Besud on 19th May 1880.  He had a very deep knife wound, back of left shoulder with deep muscles severed.  He was awarded the DCM.

The detail about each soldier is concise but very informative and well worth a visit just to see what has been put in the remarks column, as there are a couple of V.C’s mentioned.

The information can be found here

Military Abbreviations

We know what AWOL and POW is but have you ever come across A.P.or the B.W.I, or heard mention of D.B., or  E.R.A. , P.U.O. or even S.I.W?     Probably not!

We all abbreviate in some way and depending where you work or which hobby you pursue, there will be a set of abbreviations that all within those fields will know and feel comfortable using.  For example you are a lover of sport, the NVA will immediately become the National Volleyball Association, but belong to an association connected with the brave men who fought within the Normandy conflict in WW2 and NVA will mean The Normandy Veterans Association. The same few letters but within different groups mean totally different things.

As the heading says, we are talking about Military Abbreviations, so many to consider that you could never remember the more obscure ones. The military know the abbreviations, they use them every day but it is us that follow in our soldiers footsteps that are left wondering what regiment great uncle Fred served in and what he did during his service.

Many more military records are being placed on free, pay per view and subscription websites that it would be handy and ease the curiosity complex that all family historians seem to have to have a list of abbreviations.

Give a family historian something i.e. an abbreviation,  half a story or tell them that you would rather not say and woop! – curiosity mode pops up within seconds and won’t rest until there is a good answer with evidence to support the findings.

Where to go if you find P.U.O. or E.R.A. on a record, headstone of website………

look no further than here!


War Memorials Wanted !!!

If you have ever visited my website or read previous blog entries you will be aware that I collect, transcribe and add information about those whose names are carved in stone or wood, cast in metal or written in a book and then add to my websites for all to view.

Do you have access to a digital camera, know of any war memorials from any conflict.  I have 100’s of memorials transcribe and many more to do, but there are 1,000’s of village memorials, company memorials and private memorials still out there waiting a visitor with a camera who would pass the photographed memorial over to me for the transcription process.

All I would as that you do is photograph the whole memorial – it’s always nice to see the actual memorial.  Then all you have to do is photograph the names so that they can be transcribed.  If the names are in panels, I normally photograph the whole panel, then photograph sections within the panel – making for a good image when transcribing.

For this you will get my thanks and your name put to the photograph used and a note saying that you were the person who made the transcription possible.

You can contact me at memorials@wakefieldfhs.org.uk for further information or to see if I already have your village, town or company memorial.

Memorials for the Wakefield area can be found here

and those from everywhere else can be found here simply click on the county or country link.

So, if you are from the UK, Eire, Europe, America, Canada, Australia or any where else, please contact me with your war memorials from any conflict.


Very much looking forward to hearing from you all.

More than 8.5 million records go on FMP + Free Trial

FMP has just put online over 8.5 million records.

The records include :- Apprentices of Great Britain 1710 – 1774

Boyds Inhabitants of London & Boyds Family Units 1200 – 1946

Boyds London Marriages and Burials

Faculty of London Marriage Licence Allegations 1701 – 1850

Perogative Court of Canterbury Wills Index 1750 – 1800

Teachers Registration Council Registers 1914 – 1948

Trinity House Calenders 1787 – 1854

Vicar-General Marriage Licence Allegations 1694 – 1850

+ more.

While there is a 2 week Free Trial offer on Find My Past, why don’t you go along and see what they have online.

Oh! by the way the Free Trial also includes the 1911 census, so get your selves organised, work out who you need to look for and off you go!

Find My Past  Free Trial can be found here


London Remembers

Have you family from London or do you just like looking at images of interesting places?

Well if the answer to either of those questions is Yes! Then take a look at this website – London Remembers.

The map page has 100’s of hotspot links to places of interest :-  The Ship Tavern WC2 ; Wynkyn de Worde- father of Fleet Street ; site of Zeppelin bomb ; Hobby-horse bicycle and much more.  If you don’t want the hotspot version you can chose a list – a little easier to work with if  like me, you were mooching.

A good site and lots to keep you interested

To visit London Remembers click here – this link takes you straight to the map but click on the home link to see what else is happening

Leeds History at Lunchtime talks

The following talks are to be held in Leeds Central Library and hopefully some of you will be able to attend and enjoy

18th March – Catherine Callinan, Leeds Grand Theatre – “The Grand: An Entertaining Story”

8th April – Alan Humphries, Thackray Museum – “Earthworms and swallows: delftware drug jars at the Thackray Museum”

13th May – Geoffrey Forster, Leeds Library –  “Joseph Priestley and the Leeds Library”

3rd June – Janet Douglas, local historian –  “Isabella Ford: Trade Unionist, Suffragist and Socialist”

8th July – Alun Pugh, Leeds Tour Guide & Chairman of the Friends of BSTC –  “Beckett Street Cemetery: the oldest public cemetery in England. The story of Victorian Leeds told through the people who are buried there- an illustrated talk.”

5th  August – Nicola Pullan, Leeds City Museum –  “Buying up the Empire – globalised shopping in Victorian Leeds”

9th  September – David Thornton, Thoresby Society – “Edward Baines, Leeds Mercury editor and Leeds MP – ‘the Great Liar of the North’”

7th  October –  Shirley Jones,  Head of Conservation, WYAS-  “Conservation of the Leeds Tithe Maps”

All talks are free and take place in the 3rd  floor Meeting Room,  Leeds Central Library, between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.

No booking required, but places are limited.

Tel: 0113 2478290

British Home Children

My uncle John Kaye born in the early 1900’s was so he always told me brought up by nuns.  He used to tell me when I was young, that on a Sunday the children were marched down the road to the church and each given a ‘token’ by the priests of nuns for attending.  He also told me that he used to put the ‘token’ into the chocolate machine when no one was watching!.

Well, uncle John also said that he was sent to Canada when young – he told so many other stories, many about gnomes and fairies living in their garden that it was hard to sort out the truth from the tales. He also said his middle name was Campbell.  Well, sorry uncle, but I took that with a pinch of salt too. I am pleased to say that the Canada story was true, as I found him being sent out when 14 years of age.  The stories said that he worked across the three large states – Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. but no proof of that yet.  I did however, find him coming back to blighty aged 21.

Now, uncle John was a regular soldier, who achieved the rank of RSM.  He served in Africa and in Burma.  He also said he was a Commando and trained at Achnacarry.  I do know that he was very proud of the dagger and snake tattoo on his calf, and also the piper on his chest.

But I digress, uncle John was one of many young children sent to Canada, where some were welcomed into a new family but many other were treated as slave labour and mistreated.

There is a Rootsweb mailing list for British Home Children – you can either join or view the archives here

or you can visit the following websites

Wikipedia entry for Home Children

Canada National Archives – Home Children

Canada’s Slave Children

British Home Children Descendants

British Home Children in Canada 1869 – 1930

But, don’t forget that children were also sent to Australia