Dear List, Will it be possible for somebody to help me with the following please? SURNAME Given Name/s Page Item ID Prev Sys M/film N SMITH F E 108 18351 COL/434 Z50 I have been doing research on my grandfather for fifteen years without any success in finding him. He was Frederick Ernest Smith, he fought in the Boer War and stayed on in South Africa after the war. Your kind help will be much appreciated, Thank you in advance, Regards from South Africa, Karin Serfontein nee Smith

The Australian War Memorial - www.awm.gov.au - lists 6 x Frederick (various middle names) Smith, but no Ernest 3 x Ernest Smith; 1 x Ernest Edward Smith The Qld State Library of Qld has compiled a database of soldiers whose names appeared in the Queenslander newspaper, and there is a Frederick Edward Smith - http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/find/online/boerwar/database - but this soldier was invalided back to Australia. Unfortunately Boer War records here are a bit sketchy. Taking place before Federation and, therefore, centralised record keeping, State records must be used, and these also are somewhat sketchy. The AWM database has been compiled from state records, diaries, anything that can be found which has names in it. You might also have a look at http://members.pcug.org.au/~croe/ozb/oz_boer0.htm But, after 15 years, you have probably been there, done that. It is possible that Frederick Ernest Smith made his own way to South Africa and enlisted there and, since he didn't return here, might not show up on any Australia records. During WW1, the AIF didn't seemed too concerned about what name a soldier chose at enlistment. I imagine that it was no different during the Boer War, so you may not even be looking for a Mr Smith. Good luck finding your needle. Cheers Barbara.

Hi Karin http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Database_by_Ancestor.asp#aS According to Murray's list, 481 Nominal Roll 75. SMITH, Frederick Edward, Private, invalided to Australia, arr 19.11.00 There is also this report at the National Archives: http://naa12.naa.gov.au/Login.htm if F E is your person. MP744/3 1900/9330 Smith F.E. - medical report Access status: Open Location: Melbourne 1900 - 1900 1175879 No record of Frederick Ernest but Frederick Edward is there. Do you know his date of birth, or his date of death? Who were his parents? Lorrae J Glenore Grove Qld 4342 http://www.lorrae.net/ -----Original Message----- From: Karin Serfontein [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 20 February 2012 11:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AUS-QLD] Greetings from South Africa Dear List, Will it be possible for somebody to help me with the following please? SURNAME Given Name/s Page Item ID Prev Sys M/film N SMITH F E 108 18351 COL/434 Z50 I have been doing research on my grandfather for fifteen years without any success in finding him. He was Frederick Ernest Smith, he fought in the Boer War and stayed on in South Africa after the war. Your kind help will be much appreciated, Thank you in advance, Regards from South Africa, Karin Serfontein nee Smith __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 6913 (20120224) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com