Private 5786 J McNicholls

[mac2220]

HI, I have just joined and am very impressed. I am looking for info on Private 5786 J McNicholls  2 Battalion The Manchester Regiment  Wounded Dangerously on 16/11/1900 at Nr Vrede.
Any suggestions where I might find further info would be most welcome. I am trying to establish which of the many branches of my famly he belonged to.  There is nothing further on Ancestry and the "J" doesn't help because for some reason all my male ancesters were called either John or James and named their sons accordingly.  Is there any possibility of finding enlistment records that might give an address etc?

Thanks,
Martin

[Fritz Bayer]

Nothing major, but his regimental number suggests that he enlisted in the summer (approx June/July) of 1899.

Dave

[ladysmith]

Martin - Your best bet is to check series WO 97 at the National Archives in Kew to see if his service papers are one of the 70% or so that have survived from this period. This series is arranged by name not regiment. If you can't get to Kew you could either get a professional researcher to check for you or wait until FindMyPast puts the series online which was originally supposed to be by the end of this month.

David

[migky]

HI & welcome Martine, FMP are only showing one person with that name.
MCNICHOLLS James 1857 Castlebar, Mayo.
It doesn't give any details on the free search and you would have to buy credits to check it?
You got a DOB for him and a place of brith? All helps when trying to trace some one.

I know this is a little later but could any of these threee be him?

Click here for 3 J McNicholls 
Migky  

[mac2220]

Thanks for all your help. I did know about the ones on CWGC but the age seems a little off for the one born in Castlebar, although the family does have connections there.  The Irish side is a bit of a nightmare due to the many and "imaginitive" variations in the spelling.  I didn't know about FMP and the WO's, perhaps I will wait and see what comes from there or, if not, treat myself to a trip to the "smoke."
When I first started this some years ago I thought,"How hard can it be? It's not a common name" .........BIG MISTAKE!
Could be worse, could be Smith, though.
Thanks again,
Martin

[mac2220]

Hi,
In response to my previous post a "James McNicholls b.1857" was suggested. FMP's WO97 records show him as enlisting in the 23rd Brigade in 1877 and transferring to the Highland Light Infantry in 1878. As I read the records, it appears he came out in 1883 suffering from Secondary Syphilis in the form of Anal Warts (don't think I'll be getting a call from WDYTYA, do you?).  Bearing this in mind and the fact that he would have been 41/42 at the start of the Boer War, in your experience, is it likely that he would have been accepted for enlistment, let alone combat?
Martin

[Robert Bonner]

With a medical record such as that, combined with his age, I don't believe that he would have been able to re-enlist.  Army Order number 2 of January 1900 was very specific when referring to men of the volunteer corps who wished to enlist for South Africa:
Each man to be not less than twenty years old nor more than thirty-four, to be a first class shot and under volunteer regulations to be certified as ‘efficient. Also to be medically fit and single, or a widower without children’.

Although that applied to volunteers It was probably a useful guideline to be used for ex-soldiers.

[mac2220]

Robert,
Thanks very much for confirming my suspicions. Would anyone know if the WO97 published by FMP is all there is or is there more to be uncovered by a personal visit for example?  Perhaps I'm unlucky and he's in the missing 30%.
Martin