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Archiver > BOER-WAR > 2000-07 > 0963945458


From: Iain Kerr <>
Subject: Re: [BOER-WAR] Royal Sussex Regiment
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 19:37:38 +0100


At 07:51 18/07/00 , David Lamb wrote:
>Hi
>My maternal grandfather, Joseph John RALPH, joined the 3rd (Militia)
>Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, at the age of just less than 16, in
>1900, and served with them in the Boer War. I have posted messages on the
>"Sussex Plus", "Mariners" and "Ships" lists but without much in the way of
>positive feedback. Then yesterday I came across this list dedicated
>sepcifically to the Boer War. I understand from the County Archivist that
>the 3rd Battalion volunteered as a whole for service in South Africa, and
>480 men and 24 Officers embarked on the "City of Cambridge" at the Albert
>Dock, although 123 men had gone out earlier. I wonder if lists exist of
>the soldiers who were on board, or at least the officers (I know my
>grandfather was in "D" company under Captain C.G.H. Alers Hankey)? What
>about the Battalion's involvement in the War? What did they do? Then
>after peace was declared in June 1902, the battalion moved to St Helena to
>guard Boer prisoners of war there, returning to t!
>he UK on board "Dominion" on 11 August 1902, so similarly, would there be
>any records of that assignment, and the voyage home?

David,

The Sussex Militia, formed in 1778, became in 1845 the Royal Sussex Light
Infantry. In the 1881 post-Cardwell reforms, the county regiments adopted
former militia units (e.g. those retained as reservists for home defence
operations). The Royal Sussex Light Infantry became the 3rd (Militia)
Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment. The 3rd Battalion volunteered for
service overseas in South Africa and embarked for the Cape on 29 Mar
1901. After good service on Lines of Communication security and convoy
guard duties, it returned home on 11 Sep 1902. In the 1908 Haldane reforms
that included the creation of the Territorial Force (later the Territorial
Army), the militias became the "Special Reserve" and the 3rd Battalion
became The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment.

To my knowledge there are no such lists such as you seek. The muster rolls
which used to be a feature of British Army regimental records were no
longer retained after 1881 or later that decade. The retained records
thereafter were individual and those that have survived are in the War
Office archives at the PRO, Kew.

There may of course be operational diaries in the war Office archives, but
since most militia battalions contributed men to composite units that
existed only during the war, these may be difficult to track down.





Yours aye,

Iain Kerr
In Windsor, Berkshire
Web Page at: http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm
Rootsweb Sponsor Listowner for the World War II list.

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