3rd Kaffir War 1850 - 1853 - South Africa

[Currie]

That’s a great result Ted. It’s funny how the things right under your nose are the hardest to find.

All the best,
Alan

[Adam Brown]

Ted

The Great Fish River formed the border between Cape Colony and the Xhosa people at that time. There may have been any number of skirmishes in that area at that time between the CMR and the Xhosas.

Thanks

Adam

[Richard1979]

Hello Ted

Just found this thread googling. Glad to see you posting here & to be in contact with you again. I see Nina has been keeping you well updated on my recent research into William Troup and his time in the 74th Highlanders/Cape Mounted Rifles.

Foolishly, I was scratching my head a bit too and didn't think of looking for a Will on SP either..until a late night flash of inspiration. Great minds think alike. Shame though, I downloaded mine 23rd Jan, I see you did the same a week later, would have been more than happy to send you my copy if I'd known, ..so they got a double whack of money out of us by looks of it. (Extra in my case..there is another Will to a William Troup in Aberdeen City 1861...don't download this one as well if you've not already Ted, not our man!)

As for his service records I was in touch about a fortnight ago with a professional military researcher at the National Archives. He gave me a quote for a search for the service records of 48.00. Bit beyond my budget at monent (wallet still in recovery from xmas!) I do now know however such a search would have been essentially fruitless, as his service records would have been destroyed on death. The researcher in question did however say in absence of records he could build a picture of where he was each year from the muster rolls which survive.

The records of the Cape Mounted Rifles to which he transferred I do not yet know if these exist, I have been looking online for past month, without being able to get a clear answer one way or another.

I posted on the topic here, on 23rd Jan after downloading the will off SP and confirming his death at Fish River:

http://www.familytreeforum.com/showthre ... uth+africa

I was given some useful suggestions and contacts there, but not yet had the time to pursue these. Please feel free to pick up the baton and run with it Ted, rather than us both replicate the same work in parrallel as seems the case thus far.

Please also feel free to PM me Ted swap current emails etc (lost yours some years ago in a comp crash as mentioned to Nina)

Regards

Richard

[Ted]

Hi Richard

Bit of a disppointment to find we have been looking for the same stuff at the same time - we could probably have saved ourselves some money if we had known. I'll PM you with details etc.

Regards

Ted

[colindavidcampbell]

My post is not of direct interest to Ted's original post however there is enough relationship for me to post on this thread.

First the family linkage to both the Allan and the Gordon families from Banffshire and the relationship to to the 74th Highland Regiment of the same era.

Robert Allan Birth 1768 in Grange, Banffshire married Margaret Gordon

Robert and Margaret had a child called Margaret Allan who married a Gillies who it is my understanding was a coachman / gardner

Margaret Allan had a number of children however the one of interest is a Rebecca Gillies who in 1854 married in Aberdeen to one William John Wolsey, private in the 74th. On the OPR it states that William was born in Armagh, Ireland, however have never been able to find any reference to him in the limited Irish records.

I have found a record of his name in a 74th register giving reference to the Kaffir Wars 51 /53 so I suspect he returned to Aberdeen as a result of wounds or for being demobbed as most of the 74th went on to India.

So what I am looking for William John Wolsey recruitment record. I found out that prior to the 74th going to South Africa that they recruited 80 Irishmen from various parishes. There is some reference in my wives history of him going AWOL for desertion and then having the charge dropped as his term date had already passed. Any help would be appreciated regards the recruitment process and records and where to find court martial records.

Colin D Campbell
ps Ted I have both Cheyne and Troup in my tree from the Strichen / Lonmay area of Aberdeenshire.

[StewL]

Hello Colin

I am sure those involved with this thread will receive notice of your post, and will find your information most helpful.

[Ted]

Colin

I'll add my welcome too - if you can make a couple of replies you will then be able to use the PM function here.

I would think that the only chance of records for the 74th would be at NAS. You could also try the Victorian Wars Forum - http://www.victorianwars.com - I got some great help from the experts there.

Very interesting stuff about the Irish guys recruited into the regiment - thanks didn't know that.

Maybe we could communicate a bit more regarding Allans/Gordons/Troups etc when you can use the PM function.

Regards

Ted

[LesleyB]

Hi Ted and Colin
As far as I remember, I think you can send PMs on TS without having to post several times first. I do know that this is sometimes the case on other forums, so it may be that with the most recent update of the forum software that this is now the case - perhaps Andrew can confirm?

Best wishes
Lesley

[Ted]

Hi Lesley

Thanks for the info - to be honest I couldn't remember if you could post here right away or not. I know that on a few other forums you need two or three posts before you can PM. Haven't heard from Colin yet so far.

Regards

Ted

[AndrewP]

The TalkingScot forum is set up that you can send PMs as soon as your membership is activated. We don't operate the "no PMs until you have made 3 posts" option.

All the best,

AndrewP