Genealogy Chat

Karen I found that site too - there are British soldiers on there but couldn't find him! Thanks for looking Debby

Debby - just found a website by australian gov which has a searchable databse, not sure if it is just australians though. - K

Karen I think my great grandfather may have been in the 1st Boer War but there doesn't seem to be as much info on this compared to the 2nd Boer War. He's missing on the 1881 and my cousin has told me he has a very old battered shaving mug that my aunt told him has been to South Africa and back! Good luck with your search! Debby

do you know any site that coudl have info on people in the Boar War, Got a feeling that one of my GGGrandfathers was in it and now that you said that there was 2 it might be a bit tricky to find¬ LMP :)

Shirley, Sylvia - thanks for the info. I'm really bad at history but certainly didn't know there were two Boer wars!. He used to tell my mum about it but unfortunately failed to mention which war! My GGrandfather would have been 17/18 in 1891 so guess he could have gone for the first one. He married in 1903 which would fit with the second one. From the info I guess the first war was only for a year. Can find the rest of the family bar 2 siblings on 1891, I think they may have died as by 1901 there are new children with same names. Will head now to look for George mistranscribed, wish it was a more unusual name though!

Hi Karen Well my grandfather joined the british Army in 1897 & I couldnt find him on the 1901 .I found his Army record at Kew & he was away in South Africa from july 1899 to july 1903. So this explained why he didnt show on the 1901. I have him on the 1891 ,so you should be able to find your rellie. His name may have been wrongly transcribed. Hope this helps Shirley Just seen another reply to your query &&&&&&&&&& didnt no too there were two Boar wars. My grandad was 17 plus when he joined so would have been too young for the first Boar War!

Looking at this website: http://www.johnowensmith(.)co(.)uk/histdate/ - you need to remove the brackets - it says 1881 First Boer War 1899 - 1902 Second Boer War So I've learnt something as well because I hadn't realised there were two... Sylvia

My Gt Grandfather, George Johnson b.1872, appears on the 1871 & 1881 census but missing on 1891 & 1901. My mum remembers that he was in the Boer War - do the dates cover this period, could this be why he is missing? Thanks in advance.