Looking for James Downing

[chempat]

Silas Brine has records for the Royal Navy, so was using that name for them if not for army.

[hookleg]

Thanks so much for the extra info. I did look at the photo on the tree and look at the Devon connection. 'Silas' seems to have been a right so and so! It seems then that Etheldreda must have met 'Silas' (or whoever he was) through her brother Oswald on the way to or in South Africa.