My husband's family have medals for the above gentleman indicating he served in the Boer War serving at Johannesburg, Paarberg and DelFontaine amongst other places (please excuse spelling!) I am trying to fit him into the family and think he was Laurence READING born about 1874 in Leicester. This man is not showing on the 1901 census so I can only assume he was in South Africa at the time. Can anyone help me to trace this man or tell me how to find out about him? TIA Barbara I transcribe for FreeBMD on: http://freebmd.rootsweb.com Mike & Barbara Winterton Le Bourg 22570 St Gelven France ++33 (0)2 96 36 97 31

Hello Barbara, The Johannesburg clasp on the Queen's South Africa Medal (QSA) covered the march on and capture of the city in May 1900. With a few notable exceptions this didn't involve too much hard fighting. Paardeberg (February 1900) and Driefontein (March 1900) were hard fought battles particularly for certain units. The abbreviation 'Dr.' will signify Driver rather than Doctor. This was a rank particularly associated with the artillery but could also apply to other corps. An artillery driver was responsible for the horses and limbers rather than firing the guns and the rank was equivalent to an infantry private. If you let me know the full medal, clasp and naming details I can point you in the right direction for further research. If your man was in the artillery the QSA is likely to include the battery in the naming which will enable his service to be pinpointed more precisely. Regards, David ----- Original Message ----- From: Barbara Winterton <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 3:27 PM Subject: [BOER-WAR] Dr L READING > My husband's family have medals for the above gentleman indicating he served > in the Boer War serving at Johannesburg, Paarberg and DelFontaine amongst > other places (please excuse spelling!) I am trying to fit him into the > family and think he was Laurence READING born about 1874 in Leicester. This > man is not showing on the 1901 census so I can only assume he was in South > Africa at the time. > Can anyone help me to trace this man or tell me how to find out about him? > > TIA > Barbara