Australians in the Boer War
Progress on the Oz-Boer Database Project



Acknowledgements Codes Dedication Main Medals Memorials Progress Minor SEARCH Site Sources Submissions Units


Notes on the progress made so far entering material into the Oz-Boer Database from the following sources:
 5VMR QSAs, A6394, AJHR(NZ), Australasian, B5165, B5172, B5204, B5207, Bail, Bassett, Blair, Buckley, Bufton, Burridge, Bushveldt Carbineers, Cubis, Dunn & Blundell, Dennis & Grey, Field, Fogg, Gray, Gunn, HAGSOC, Harding & Macdonald, Horner, Howe, Kaplan, McAleer, McLachlan, Mitchell, Murray, Newbury1, NMCSA, Oxford Companion, OMRS, Price1, Price2, Reay, Regal, Robertson, Roe, SDT, Simpson, Smith1, Smith2, Symonds, Town and Country, Vernon, Wallace Watson Wilcox Wilkinson Woolmore2

Murray

The project commenced with the 17,865 records in Dr. Robin McLachlan's 'Soldiers of the Queen' Index to Murray.

McLachlan's unit/contingent names have been reduced to abbreviations (to reduce the size of the database and speed search responses), his duplicate "DIED" entries have mostly been consolidated and his Murray page numbers were subsequently amalgamated with the Other Source references field. Possible duplicate (re-enlistment) entries were reviewed, expanded and noted as appropriate to the end of the A surnames. Further work on the amalgamation of entries will be held over until later in the project when more information is available. The text and nominal rolls in Murray have now also been scanned for additional information on individuals not extracted by McLachlan (ie, given name, number, rank and Murray's comments). The index in Murray (mainly officers, Sudan Veterans and gallantry awards) has also been entered in full. Note that the above work was done without separate secondary cross check. However, the nominal rolls from Murray (for all States except NSW and Victoria) were extracted earlier Rob. Nelson of the Perth DPS. Moreover, the Australian War Memorial now also has its transcription of the Nominal Rolls from Murray online. Both can be consulted as a check.

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Wallace1

The index to Bob Wallace's first book has been entered and some relevant matters discovered during this process (in particular the names of Australians in other than Australian units) included in the database. Many Wallace-mentioned individuals now include Comments from that source. Basic data entry on this task has now been completed.

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Wallace2

At this stage I've only done a 'quick and dirty' job on the indexing Bob Wallace's Elands book - and then only to the end of Chapter 9 plus Appendix 7. In most instances the comment is just 'Eland's R.' rather than a precis.

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Field

The index to Field has been entered, and some relevant matters discovered during this process included in the Comments. All the basic data entry is complete.

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Mitchell

The obviously Boer War related pages in the index to Mitchell have all been entered.

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Vernon

Only the chapter on the South African War has been entered in the database.

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Cubis

Only the chapter on the Boer War has been entered in the database.

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Buckley

The chapter on service in South Africa has been indexed in the database along with the contemporary photographs of Boer War participants.

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Australasian

No progress made so far.

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Town & Country

No progress made so far.

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Bushveldt Carbineers

Australian references (eg mailing addresses and previous service) in the Nominal Roll of the Bushveldt Carbineers (later known as the Pietersburg Light Horse) are being entered. Basic data entry has been completed down the end of the Bs.

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Kaplan

The obvious Australian references (ie 3QMI and NSWCB) in Kaplan's Relief of Mafeking clasp roll have all been entered.

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Horner

Only the names mentioned in the short section on the Boer War have been entered.

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OCAMH

Only the section on the Boer War has so far been scanned but very few names of individual combattants were found.

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Harding & Macdonald

To date I've found and entered about 90% of the first list of photos of Australians in Harding & Macdonald which was posted in the AUSTRALIA-L@rootsweb.com mailing list by Jennifer Nielsen in November 1998. She has since posted a second list and more are in prospect.

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NMCSA

The bulk of the 594 records in the National Memorials Council of South Africa database of Boer War graves of Australians have now been linked with the appropriate entries in the Oz-Boer Database.

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Price1

All the names in John Price's first book, plus other limited information from it has now been extracted. The latter is mainly the locations of war memorials in Australia which list the individuals concerned. If you are interested in someone mentioned in Price1 you should also consult the book for the further information it will usually provide about them.

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Price2

The material from Price2 in the database is part of the data on the Australian Scottish Horse casualties that is found in pages 171 & 172 plus extracts on the presumed Australians (ie, the non-identified New Zealanders) amongst the Australasian enlistees in the 1st Regiment from pages 117-120 and in the 2nd Regiment from pages 120-136 (with some supplementary material on the other war service of these individuals from pages 156-163). There are no plans to put any more information from Price2 into the database.

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Bufton

Bufton's Index to Illustrations has been entered as far as the Plate at page 273, ie into the First Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen Contingent (about a quarter way through the plates), but nothing else from the book has been addressed at this stage.

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Burridge

So far only an incomplete collection of the John Burridge Military Antiques catalogues that I have access to has been examined and the immediately identifyable Boer War items of Australian interest indexed, viz catalogues:

  • 1983: August
  • 1985: March, July, December
  • 1986: April, July
  • 1987: February
  • 1992: July, August and December
  • 1993: May, August, November and December
  • 1994: May, July, September and December
  • 1995: March, June,September and December
  • 1996: April, May/June, August, November and December
  • 1997: April, June and September
  • 1998: December.

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McAleer

McAleer's list of the 'Residents of Lillydale who Served in the Boer War, 1899-1912" has been entered down into the Ps but nothing else from the book has been addressed at this stage.

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AJHR(NZ)

John Wilson's BOER1.TXT file of Boer War material from the AJHR(NZ) - and, to a lesser degree, from other NZ sources such as Hall and Stowers - has been scanned for Australia-related entries down as far as the 9th NZ Contingent, but I have addressed nothing else from the AJHR(NZ) at this stage.

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Regal

So far only an incomplete collection of the Regal Coin Company catalogues that I have access to has been examined and the immediately identifyable Boer War items of Australian interest indexed, viz catalogues:

  • 1971: January, April, May, September, November
  • 1972: February, April, October
  • 1974: April, October
  • 1975: March, December
  • 1976: February, May, July, October
  • 1982: December
  • 1983: December
  • 1985: March, June, September, December
  • 1986: March, June, August
  • 1987: March, August

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Smith1

The text of Neil Smith's book on Bethune's Mounted Infantry has been examined and all the immediately identifyable Australians have been entered in the database.

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Smith2

The text of Neil Smith's book on the Australian recipients of the King's South Africa Medal has been reviewed as far the surnames commencing B on page 9 and all those with service in non-Australian units have been entered in the database.

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OMRS

So far only edition of the Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society has been examined and the immediately identifyable Boer War items of Australian interest indexed, viz:

  • 1999: Spring

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Simpson

The 8th Light Horse Regiment Boer War veterans listed on page 268 have now all been added to the Oz-Boer Database.

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Watson

All the Tasmanian casualties covered in Watson's book have now been indexed in the Oz-Boer Database. However, I have included only a few of the personal details provided by Watson on each of them so you'll need to consult the book itself to see them and the photographs it contains.

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Fogg

All the identifyably Australian names in Alan Fogg's book have now been indexed.

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Wilkinson

At this stage I've only indexed the obviously Boer War (NSW Lancers) names in Chapter 2 of Wilkinson's book.

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Wilcox

All the individual Australian participants listed in the examples cited by Dr. Wilcox in his guide have now been indexed. Mostly it was possible to match them to entries already in the database. However, there have been a few which I could not find and which did not also provide sufficient information to allow the creation of an additional record.

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B5165

Below is the progress made to date on the extraction of selected information from the alphabetical roll of the pre-Federation colonial Western Australian units that is held by Australian Archives as Accession B5165. Apart from noteing different surname spellings and/or different initials, the information indexed from B5165 is essentially the previous service data and any remarks not already available from Murray - including handwritten additions re wounds, evacuation to WA and King's South Africa Medal entitlements.

Boer War Unit

Nominal Roll

1st Western Australian Mounted Infantry
Completed
2nd Western Australian Mounted Infantry Completed
3rd Western Australian Bushmen
Completed
4th Western Australian Mounted Infantry Completed
5th Western Australian Mounted Infantry not in B5165
6th Western Australian Mounted Infantry not in B5165

Note: There are inconsistencies in the spelling of surnames and in the regimental numbers as shown in Murray and those in the typeset Western Australian roll.

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B5204

Indicated below is the progress made to date on the extraction of selected information from the nominal and medal rolls of some of the earlier NSW units that are held by Australian Archives (Victoria Branch) as Accession B5204.

Boer War Unit

Nominal Roll

QSA Medal Roll

SA01 & 02 Clasps
and/or KSA Roll

NSW Army Medical Corps Completed Completed Completed
NSW Inf./'A'Sqn. NSWMR Completed Completed Incomplete
1st NSW Mounted Rifles Completed Completed Completed
2nd NSW Mounted Rifles Completed Incomplete Completed
3rd NSW Mounted Rifles Completed Incomplete Incomplete
NSW Citizens' Bushmen Completed Incomplete Completed
1st NSW Imperial Bushmen Completed Completed Completed
3rd NSW Imperial Bushmen Completed Incomplete Incomplete

Note: There are many inconsistencies in the spelling of names and in the regimental numbers as shown in Murray and in the original nominal and medal rolls.

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B5207

Below is the progress made to date on the extraction of selected information from the nominal and medal rolls of the post- Federation Commonwealth units that are held by Australian Archives (Victoria Branch) as Accession B5207.

Boer War Unit

Nominal Roll

QSA Medal Roll

SA01 & 02 Clasps
and/or KSA Roll

Commonwealth Army Medical Corps
Completed@ Incomplete Incomplete
1st Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Incomplete Incomplete
2nd Australian Commonwealth Horse
Completed@ Incomplete Incomplete
3rd Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Incomplete Incomplete
4th Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Incomplete Incomplete
5th Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Not applicable
Not applicable
6th Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed* Not applicable
Not applicable
7th Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Not applicable
Not applicable
8th Australian Commonwealth Horse Completed@ Not applicable
Not applicable

@ Generally just occupation, place of residence and next of kin if different plus any previous service in South Africa.
*  Generally given names, occupation, place of residence and next of kin if different plus previous service in South Africa.

Note: There are many inconsistencies in the spelling of names and in the regimental numbers as shown in Murray and in the original nominal and medal rolls.

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A6394

All the Scottish Horse enrolments extracted by Cheryl Mongan (file 1Scot-H.XLS) have now been incorporated in the Oz-Boer Database.

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Howe

All the Australian soldiers named in the index to 'Words of War' have now been included in the Oz-Boer Database. In most cases it was possible to match them to existing records. However, the few not matched have been given temporary stand-alone entries until I can examine the book itself.

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Dennis & Grey

To date only the names I took down during the 1999 Chief of Army/Australian War Memorial conference on the Boer War, and those given to me shortly afterwards by speakers, have been included in the database.

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Newbury1

Newbury1 is essentially a list of the names of South Australian soldiers and nurses, mostly with number, rank and unit details which in most cases are also available from Murray (and thus nowadays from the online AWM database too). Accordingly, it was not appropriate for me to attempt to index every entry in Newbury1. I have included on average about half a dozen entries from each page - those with information (like Irregular Unit and WW1 service details or medal entitlements) that cannot be found in Murray. That work has now been completed.

Note however that not everything contained in the selected entries has been indexed. While unit and medals data mostly has been included in the Oz-Boer Database, number and rank information usually has not. For this reason you should also consult Newbury1 itself if researching South Australians. Also because in the sample I indexed there were a substantial number of corrections and additions to the names shown in Murray. In particular, given names in place of just initials for almost everyone in 1SAMR and 3SAB!

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Sydney Daily Telegraph

To date the only material from the Telegraph that is included in the Oz-Boer Database is that kindly provided by Russell Stern as a by-product of his research into Australian Jews in the Boer War. See the Roe sources page for further information.

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Bail

The 2SAMR names and some of the other less common surnames from other units (mainly 1AH & 2WAMI) in the first diary were kindly provided by Trevor Bail. I have now also indexed the few other identifyably Australian names (As to Ks only) from the later diaries

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Symonds

All the names kindly supplied by Ian Symonds from his book have now been indexed in the database.

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Reay

Thanks to David Fox, Kambah ACT who extracted the relevant data, all the names in Appendix VI of Maj. Reay's book have now been indexed in the database.

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Bassett

All the relevant names in Chapter I, 'My God, Australian Sisters, what shall we do? - South Africa, Boer War' of Jan Bassett's book have now been indexed in the database.

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Robertson

All the apparently Australian names in Jill Robertson's book 'Not for Self But Empire' have now been indexed in the database.

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Gunn & McAleer

All the names in the Boer War section of Mrs Aeneas Gunn's book 'My Boys: a Book of Remembrance' for the Monbulk Men have now been indexed in the database.

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Blair

All but one of names in chapter 2 of Ron Blair's book 'Shoulder to Shoulder: a Military History of the Baw Baw Shire and a Record of those who Served' have now been indexed in the database.

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Dunn & Blundell

All the identifyably 1st Australian Horse names in 'The Boys in Green' have been indexed in the database. However, few of the at least 29 who served a second time in South Africa have been identified and indexed - similarly with the about 30 (including 8 commissioned) in the AIF in World War 1.

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5VMR QSAs

Within the legibility constraints of the photocopy of the 5VMR QSA Medal Roll that I had access to, all the available data from it has now been entered into the database. Note however that the invalidity evacuation dates are generally those which someone unknown had earlier pencilled in over the now indistinct originals.

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Gray

David Fox, Canberra kindly extracted data on the Australian nurses in the Boer War from Sheila Gray's book. Generally speaking, I've included their units and locations in the database but not the associated posting dates. You'll need to consult the book itself for them.

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HAGSOC

The National Memorials Council of South Africa database of Australian grave information has been indexed. The images of graves and memorials on the HAGSOC site at 13 August 2004 have also been processed.

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Woolmore2

The index to Bill Woolmore's book on 'Steinaecker's Horsemen' has been processed along with the biographical nominal roll of the unit.

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Minor Sources

I've now received well over 600 emails and letters with material for inclusion in the database as indicated by the R:#[number] source codes. This material is usually processed promptly and appears in the online database within a month of receipt.

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Colin Roe
Last changed 15 December 2006


Acknowledgements Codes Dedication Main Medals Memorials Progress Minor SEARCH Site Sources Submissions Units