Dear List My Grandfather served in the Boer War with the Manchester's, from the medal bars-which list the battle locations, it seems he was in the Mounted Infantry. He was born in July 1869, so would be 32 in South Africa.-- only Queens medal awarded--so left before 1902? He Married in 1904, when he had obviously left the service. He re-enlisted? in WW1 when he was then 45, and served in France, and England until 1918 On his WW 1 records , in answer to question 11, Have you previously served in the army ?--- it is written 2nd Batt Manchester's,Time expired.- (he served in the 13th Batt in WW1) and is described as an engineers fitter. Can anyone tell me what his likely period of service might have been --that is how old was he when he first joined The Manchester's. I can find him on the Census for 1881, when he was 12 as a scholar in a relatives household, ( he was an orphan at 11),--- but not for 1891, when he was 22. If he joined at 21, I suppose he might have been an apprentice in industry before he went, or did the Army train engineers -at this time? that would have given him 10 years service in the Army. Any suggestions please?