Hi, I'm trying to find out more about an Alfred Darlow that served in the Royal Field Artillery as a gunner from 1891 to 1902. His marriage certificate says he was part of the 83rd field battery in woolwich (?). He received medals for Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Battle of Belfast, Laing's NEK, Relief of Ladysmith and Orange Free State. Is the 83rd battery part of a regiment and if so, how would I find that out? Thanks for any response. Lynn

Hello Lynn, A battery was an operational unit within the Royal Artillery which itself was subdivided into three separate arms - Field, Horse and Garrison. A battery would typically consist of 6 guns and 100-120 officers and men. That may sound a lot of manpower but bear in mind that the artillery was horse drawn at that time so apart from gunners a battery would also have drivers, shoeing smiths, farriers, saddlers, collar makers and other specialist ranks. Woolwich was the artillery HQ in the UK. The clasps on his QSA reflect service in Buller's Ladysmith relief force but the 83rd Battery wasn't in this force. It was in Roberts's force on the northern front. This means that between his marriage and the Boer War he must have transferred to another battery. There were several Field batteries which qualified for the clasps you mention - 7, 14, 19, 61, 63, 64, 66, 73 & 78. He's not in the casualty list so your best bet is to get a researcher to check for his service and attestation papers in series WO 97 at the PRO although not all of these have survived. Regards, David ----- Original Message ----- From: Bryant and Lynn Wheeler <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 9:10 PM Subject: [BOER-WAR] Darlow in Royal Field Artillery > Hi, I'm trying to find out more about an Alfred Darlow that served in the Royal Field Artillery as a gunner from 1891 to 1902. His marriage certificate says he was part of the 83rd field battery in woolwich (?). He received medals for Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Battle of Belfast, Laing's NEK, Relief of Ladysmith and Orange Free State. Is the 83rd battery part of a regiment and if so, how would I find that out? Thanks for any response. Lynn

Official British Army Orders: Natal Army Orders, which are purple and cyclostyled, are in the War Diary section (WA-SA 1-8) of National Archives, Wellington New Zealand. There are also some white (British) Army Orders from Pretoria which were printed at the Government Printing Works, Pretoria. Not a full set though; they list some death sentences on Boers eg Lotter and Scheepers. There is also Pvt. P. Enright of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers who was found guilty by a General Court-Martial in Kroonstad on 7th April 1902 and hanged for the murder of Colour-Sergeant Sullivan in the same battalion. An entry in the Natal District Army Orders No 532 of 21 April 1902 also said "the sentence has been confirmed and carried out" but does not say when. Order No 548 of 21st May 1902 says that three 'followers of the army' Damster Linx, Abraham Damster, and John Monoarin were found guilty and hanged for rape and attempted rape by a General Court-Martial at Bloemfontein on 13-14 May 1902. Yours, John Wilson (Wellington, New Zealand)