Dear Brian, Fay and Tara, As one who has an interest in Military History, I also found the Natal Mercury article written in 1922, about  Lewis Goldsmith LESTER, who apparently fought in the Crimean War (1854-56) and in the Indian Mutiny (1857-59), with the 41st Light (Welsh) Regiment, very interesting. And so, I forwarded the article (fully, as published) to a colleague of mine in England who is one of the world experts in the Crimean War, being a published author on the War, a specialist collector of Crimean War medals, and an advisor to the BBC on films made by the BBC on the War. He replied to me, advising that there is NO RECORD in the officlal medals rolls for either the Crimean, or the Indian Mutiny campaigns for a man by the name of Lewis Goldsmith Lester. As I live in Durban myself, I was quite excited at the thought that, as recently as 1922, we had a Crimean War veteran living in Durban!!! But according to the records, there is no such a man on the medal rolls, as I have said. Of course there are many reasons as to why his name was not there. Perhaps he was 'stretching the truth' when interviewed by the Mercury. Perhaps he fought under another name (as men sometimes did in those days, for whatever reason). Perhaps he was never there. Perhaps he WAS there, and his name was not included in the records, for some reason. Far be it for me to cast doubt on the story, as I looked at it only as an outsider, who looked at it based purely on the facts stated in the article. But I thought that in the best interests of historical accuracy, that you should be aware of the fact that this name does not appear in the Medal Rolls. Maybe you have further information, details, or facts which can assist in clearing up the claims made by Mr. Lester? With very kind regards, David BENNETT MHSSA Durban **************************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Brian & Fay Lea [mailto:cancun@icon.co.za] Sent: 06 April 2012 09:44 AM To: south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com; KWAZULU-NATAL-SOUTH-AFRICA@rootsweb.com; south-africa-cape-town@rootsweb.com; SOUTH-AFRICA-ORANGE-FREE-STATE@rootsweb.com; south-africa-immigrants-british@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ZA-EC] THE NATAL MERCURY, MON, JUNE 12, 1922 Dear Tara, I do hope you found the information relating to your 3rd great grandfather. Your time and effort in transcribing for our benefit is very much appreciated. Regards Fay -----Original Message----- From: south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Tara Norton Sent: 05 April 2012 09:03 AM To: KWAZULU-NATAL-SOUTH-AFRICA@rootsweb.com; south-africa-cape-town@rootsweb.com; 'south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com'(south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb. com); OFS List(SOUTH-AFRICA-ORANGE-FREE-STATE@rootsweb.com); south-africa-immigrants-british@rootsweb.com Subject: [ZA-EC] THE NATAL MERCURY, MON, JUNE 12, 1922 Hello fellow listers I went in search of newspaper clippings pertaining to my 3rd great grandfather in the basement of the Bessie Head Library in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and located the following which I hope may be of help to his descendants (and other researchers) in years to come: