1st & 2nd manchester battalion's in the boer war.

[mick]

hi all,
       i was wondering if anyone know's where i could find the list of soldiers that were part of these battalions during this conflict, many thanks, mick

[harribobs]

Hi Mick

and welcome to the group

are you looking for someone in particular?

chris

[mick]

hi chris,
          it's christopher callison/ collinson/ collison. we met last year when mr bonner gave us a tour of the museum at ashton. i'm still looking for his service during the boer war and with him joining the manchesters at the outbreak of ww1 i feel that he could have been part of either one of these battalions so any info would be great.
          many thanks mick

[harribobs]

Of course! 

i thought we had identified his battalion hopefully one of our boer war geniuses will have a look on the medal rolls

chris

[sphinx]

Christopher COLLINSON Pte. 6351. 5th Militia Bn. The Manchester Regiment.

Entitled to QSA with clasps:- Cape Colony, Orange Free State, S.Africa 1901 & S. Africa 1902.

No further information.

[mick]

cheers sphinx,
                   that must be my man, great grandfather, he has used that surname in other documents that we have. this militia that he served with, sorry to be cheeky but i bow down to all of your superior knowledge on this subject, is there any info on where it served, what it did, anything at all or could anybody point me in the direction of finding out myself. what a group, thanks for any help, mick                   

[sphinx]

They arrived at Winberg, OFS in July 1901 and took over the defences of the town.  It remained there until on 8.4.1902 it moved to Smalldeal.  They remained there until peace was declared 31.5.1902.#

They saw no action.

[mick]

thanks again sphinx but, no disrespect, but if collinson was awarded the qsa with clasps but that battalion never arrived until july 1901 would he not have received the ksa. also could you enlighten me with any info you have as regards to where this battalion would have trained in the uk. thanks again for any info, i am blind in these matters and really take my hat off to you, mick

[sphinx]

No, he wasn't eligible for the KSA for reasons of time spent there, very complicated rules.  None of the Militia men or Volunteers got the KSA.

The Militia were local men to Manchester who were embodied in time of War.  They would have lived at their home address until embodied (called to War) and then to Aldershot and from Southampton (usually) to S. Africa.

[ladysmith]

thanks again sphinx but, no disrespect, but if collinson was awarded the qsa with clasps but that battalion never arrived until july 1901 would he not have received the ksa. also could you enlighten me with any info you have as regards to where this battalion would have trained in the uk. thanks again for any info, i am blind in these matters and really take my hat off to you, mick

Mick - The qualification criteria for a KSA was a minimum of 18 months war service in South Africa with a portion of that service in 1902. The war ended on 31/5/1902 so any service later than that date didn't count for any award of the QSA or KSA. The KSA was normally issued with clasps South  Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902 but a small number with only the 1902 clasp were awarded to men who met the qualification criteria but due to wounds, sickness, redeployment back to the UK, etc. weren't in SA at all during 1901. Otherwise men who served in SA during 1901 and/or 1902 received the date clasps on their QSAs.

David

[2nd Manchesters]

Hi Mick just a though there are some publications mainly on the 1st Batt in the Boer war at the following web site that may be of help. happy hunting David.

http://www.themanchesters.org/BIBLIO_1.htm

[mick]

may i thank you all for helping me by sharing your knowledge with me, you have helped me fill in a few more gaps, cheers to you all, mick