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Merry
12-11-12, 14:56
BK6 updated from this thread


My great-grandmother was the only girl in her family, having seven brothers. Two of them were these chaps:

Inkermann Henry Wells - b 5th Nov 1854 at High Wycombe, Bucks - bap 5th Aug 1855 at Holy Trinity, Twickenham, Mdx

Henry Wells - b 4th Nov 1861 at Twickenham, Mdx - bap 15th Nov 1863 at Holy Trinity, Twickenham, Mdx

(There's another thread on here discussing where Inkerman(n) vanished to and the chances of him being called Henry/Harry when he had a brother of that name.)

I have a South African general service medal inscribed "11024 Sapper H Wells R.E." which having checked out the ribbon etc is from the 1st Boer War 1880/81.

Here's the problem......

I had thought the medal belonged to the younger of the two brothers, because I can't find him on the 1881 census (I think he died in 1885 in Brentford District)

Now I'm wondering (it's taken me over two years to make this connection!!) if I'm wrong and brother Inkermann had (understandably) dropped his first name before joining the army? Trouble is, he is here in 1881 when he should be in SA earning his medal!

Thanks to Elizabethherts, I have this entry for Inkermann in 1881:

WELLS, Henry Boarder Single M 28 1853 Sapper Royal Engineers High Wycombe

The bit in bold is the bit I'd not previously connected with the medal.

How can I prove which one of the two went to SA? I can't find a service record on FMP.
kiterunner
12-11-12, 16:11
If you can get a death cert for the one who died in 1885 it should have his occupation, which might help. But maybe we can find something cheaper!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:13
Yes, something cheaper would be nice!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:17
Oooh:

Sapper H Wells R.E. (https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ViewRecord/1000960?reference=arrowLinks)

I wonder if this is also lurking in FMP records, but I can't find it?
kiterunner
12-11-12, 16:20
Yes, if you search the army service records on FMP for soldier number 11024, Henry Wells born 1853 Windsor, Berkshire, comes up. It doesn't show a regiment on the results list.
kiterunner
12-11-12, 16:22
When you look at the images for the above, it is the Royal Engineers, and he enlisted in 1871 giving his age as 18 (also birthplace is High Wycombe on the image), so we can rule out the younger Henry.
Merry
12-11-12, 16:32
Yes, if you search the army service records on FMP for soldier number 11024, Henry Wells born 1853 Windsor, Berkshire, comes up. It doesn't show a regiment on the results list.

After all this time - I'd never noticed the advanced search for military records on FMP and have spent all afternoon wishing you could search with the army service number!! Easy when you know how lol Thanks Kate!!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:36
Oooh, he's a Wesleyan Methodist :)

He was in SA until 27th Jan 1880. When did the war start??????!!!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:37
Ah, 1879!!
kiterunner
12-11-12, 16:43
Ah, I assumed you had used the advanced search but had put in regiment as well as number and that was why you hadn't found him!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:46
lol No :o:o:o:o

I did do a lot of delving with Bucks rather than Berkshire in the search box.

Oh dear, Henry had syphillis :(
Merry
12-11-12, 16:47
It seems quite strange reading about him receiving his medal in 1879 when I'm sitting here with it on the kitchen table next to me!

I said to OH that the clasp is missing, but the service record states it was issued "without clasp" lol
ElizabethHerts
12-11-12, 16:50
So pleased you have found some information, Merry. Even if some of it wasn't exactly what you expected.

Can you give me the link for the Advanced Search - I must be blind!
Merry
12-11-12, 16:58
I'm not sure there is one when you are searching the whole of the military records at once. I went to this bit after Kate's post:

FMP advanced military search (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/army-service-records/all)
Merry
12-11-12, 17:00
Even if some of it wasn't exactly what you expected.


lol!! Well, had I thought about it (which I hadn't) it was about time I found a relative with such a condition! My gran (his niece) will be spinning in her grave! Not that she knew him............
ElizabethHerts
12-11-12, 17:32
Thanks, Merry, I'll know where to go now. :)
Merry
12-11-12, 17:54
He didn't receive a clasp because:

In 1880 it was decided that this 1853 medal should be awarded to all personnel—Colonial volunteers and native levies as well as British regular forces—who had served in any of the campaigns in South Africa between September 1877 and December 1879, namely the Gaika–Galeka War, the Northern Border War, the 1st and 2nd Sekukuni Wars, the Moirosi's Mountain campaign in Basutoland, and the Anglo-Zulu War. A medal bar or clasp was to be attached to the suspender of the medal bearing the date or dates of the year or years in which the recipient had actually served in any of those campaigns. Any members of the military who had been mobilized in Natal but who had not crossed the Tugela River into Zululand, were to receive the medal without a bar.T his included Naval shore parties.

So, he never met Michael Caine, then!

Funnily enough, I'm supposed to be related to him too, though I've never found a link!