Boer War

[StephenEdwardReid]

This is all great - thanks. As a "reserve" would he be based at home when he was disembodied?

[MaxD]

 Yes - when he was in the militia and not embodied, he lived at home and plied his civilian trade,  turning up for annual camp.  The annotations in the right hand column of his statement of services show:
 49 days drill (training) on enlistment in Jun/July 1899 then back home to brush making.
Then comes the short period of embodiment, ie full time service but in the UK May-Oct 1900 (orders were given in Feb 1900 for the embodiment of 56 battalions.  The East Surreys and many others languished on Salisbury Plain being released later in the year)
Then back to brush making until embodied service  and off to S Africa May 1901 to July 1902.
Back to brush making with the commitmet still for annual camp
1903-was present at annual camp - 3 to 4 weeks in the summer
1904 - was temporarily sick so did not attend camp
Discharged Jun 1905


MaxD

[StephenEdwardReid]

That's all great - thanks. I'm full of questions....

He got married in May 1899, then in June 1899 he signed up for the 3rd Battalion and claimed to be single. Is there any reason you know of why somebody might lie? Were married men still allowed?? He hadn't left his wife because they were together for decades.

[MaxD]

There was certainly no reason from the militia point of view for fibbing about his marital state.

That said, the George Pitt warehouseman of Massinger Street who married Amy Caroline Moody on 21 May 1899 says he is 21.  On 26 June 1899 George Pitt brush maker of Trinity  Buildings attests and says he 19 years 4 months.  Is it certain that the two Pitts are the same or is he an accomplished dissembler or have I got the wrong marriage?  George and Amy are in Southwark in 1901 with ages that add up with the marriage.

MaxD

[ShaunJ]

There is only one business with a name resembling "Ploughman" in St Thomas Street in the 1899 directory.

Why would a brush maker be working for a wholesale beer merchant?

[ShaunJ]

Picking up on Max's question here is the signature comparison. The P is different but everything else is identical:

[MaxD]

Yep - same chap, shaky grasp of his age!
MaxD

[StephenEdwardReid]

Yeah, it's the same guy. The signature -as you pointed out- matches. Also, it does list his Brush Maker job on the militia form as well as Ploughmans (?) even though there doesn't appear to be a connection between the two. He and Amy both lied on their marriage certificate; he was 19 and she was 18 but they both put 21.

The evidence says it's the same person, but it raises a whole bunch of questions that I can't even begin to answer - mainly, why would he sign up just a month after the wedding to his already-pregnant wife?? Poverty runs deep in the family so maybe it seemed like the only option. 

[StephenEdwardReid]

Also - does anybody have a specific link to his war record? I can't seem to find one beyond just a list of his medals. Is there a way of buying a more complete record? - I can't see any links to do that.