Hi again Margret - The army established and maintained a regular soldier's attestation and service papers for the sole purpose of tracking and calculating his eligibilty for pension. A man who died on service by definition did not live to receive his army pension and the authorities officially destroyed his papers as they were no longer officially required. The papers of men who survived the Boer War but who later served in WW1 were sometimes bundled in with their WW1 papers but again (and also bearing in mind that 70% of WW1 papers were destroyed in the Blitz of WW2 anyway) they would not have survived if the man died. This applies to regular soldiers of the Boer War period but for example the Imperial Yeomanry papers survive almost intact including those of men who died in the Boer War. This is because these were just short term enlistment papers for the duration of the war (or less) and had nothing to do with pensions. I'm afraid therefore that if your great uncle was killed in the Boer War his papers will not have survived. If you give me his name I'll check on the casualty roll for you. Regards, David Margret Schultz <wain10@worldnet.att.net> wrote: David, Why wouldn't records survive if he was killed in action? My gr uncle was- we believe- killed in the BOER War. Does this mean that it is not possible to find at Kew Gardens any records of his service? Quite a shock. Thank you for the information though. Margaret, in frosty Palmyra. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com