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Australians
in the Boer War
Oz-Boer Database Project |
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Full Record
Hint: This site is intended as a search aid - not a definitive source. It is essentially an index to documents that seem to relate to this person plus a very brief precis of relevant elements. Sources often conflict and I also flag things with a ? when I am unsure. So if the information below is important to you, then please check the original sources to see what else they contain (and in case I have inadvertantly introduced transcription and/or precising errors). There can be additional information that was not included in the database for both space and copyright reasons.
| Surname | | SODEN |
| Given Name(s) or Initial(s) | | William |
| Regimental Number | | 79 |
| Rank | | Private |
| Unit Name | | 3rd Queensland Mounted Infantry |
| State | | Qld |
Extracts and Comments
(from Sources as shown) | |
Murray: Ag. Corporal.
B5172: Charters Towers Qld.
URL2: William SODEN c/- J SODEN Leyshon Rd. Charters Towers Qld., single, photo #79.
URL3: Seven Queenslanders have been included in the men selected from which next year's Bisley team will he picked. They are - G SHAW, M HEENAH, Andrew FERGUSON, T PYE, W PRICE, W SODEN & S SOWDEN. ... The last five Queenslanders appear low down on the list. ... It is with feelings of extreme pleasure that we have to chronicle the achievements of our worthy townsmen, Messrs. MOTTON and SODEN, who, it will be remembered, left the goldfield for Sydney, en-route to Bisley in April last [1902], Mr. SODEN as one of the selection for the Australian Commonwealth Bisley team, Mr. MOTTON an independent competitor at his own expense. Although Mr. SODEN put up some splendid practice scores at Bisley his success at the meeting was not altogether brilliant. ... 0n the conclusion of the Bisley meetting Mr. SODEN visited his native land (Scotia). ... Leaving Bisley and coming to the New South Wales meeting the twain kept up the reputation of North Queensland and Charters Towers in particular. Mr SODEN annexing the much coveted plum of the meeting - The King's. Mr. SODEN thus showing that if he could not bring home the the World's Kings he did the next best, that of the Australian Commonwealth. The win is all the more meritorious, since it was won in very unfavorable weather conditions - changeable light, wind and rain. In practising for the Bisley meeting on the Millchester
range on the 25th & 26th March, Mr SODEN under similar conditions put up some fine scores which are appended here and go to show that the hero is by no means a fair weather shot. Charters Towers is naturally proud of William who learned his shooting on the field, as well as acquiring his schooling. Prior to going to South Africa at the commencement of the war, Mr. SODEN was conspicuous amongst riflemen, and since his return has done some execution both in North Queensland and in the other States. To have fought in South Africa, shot at Bisley and to have won the Commonwealth King's Prize is a big experience for a man of 27. ...
URL4: RIFLE SHOOTING. "Straightbar" in the Townsville Bulletin has the following about the Charters Towers crack rifleman, winner of the New South Wales Association's King's Prize — Mr. W SODEN was twenty five years of age when he won the North Queensland Championship at Cluden in August 1901, at which meeting he was second in the King's — Kane's King's year. He is a Scotchman, born in that great rifleman's county, Lanarkshire. If Scotland claims his birthplace, Charters Towers has seen the most of Mr. SODEN's young life. He was five years old when he went to the goldfield. He has the distincton of being one of those who so gallantly maintained Britain's honour at Eland's River, and it was upon his return from the war that he won the North Queensland Championship. Chosen to represent Australia at Bisley, Mr. SODEN travelled with the 1903 Kolapore team, but the off season struck him and he practically lost his brilliancy which had gained for him the inclusion in the team. His trip back to Australia has pulled him together and once more his name is on every rifleman's lips. It is a splendid home coming. His success in the Sydney King's has re-established him in the estimation of everyone who knows him and who thinks so highly of him as a rifleman and a man. He is about the most travelled rifleman in Queensland. During the past four vears, allowing for his absence in South Africa and England, he has hardly missed an interstate fixture. His succes's in Sydney means a gold medal and £25.
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| Source References | |
Murray: Official Records of the Australian Contingents etc. page(s) 468
B5172: National Archives of Australia series B5172
Queenslander: The Queenslander newspaper date(s) 3.3.1900
NQ Register: North Queensland Register newspaper date(s) 26.10.1903
Capric.: Capricornian newspaper Rockhampton Qld. date(s) 7.11.1903
| | External Link URL1 | | www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/CollectionsDownloads/Documents/boer_war_index_id18351.pdf | | External Link URL2 | | nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2518779 | | External Link URL3 | | nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84416302 | | External Link URL4 | | nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68268941 |
Please email me if you can
contribute any other relevant information about this person (eg any
other military service, where in Australia they came from or when/where
they died). Also, if you find an external link broken.
Apology: For some time now it has been difficult to keep up with the newly available sources (especially the Trove newspaper site) plus the flow of contributions and queries. So I have been forced to prioritise maintenance and data entry over replying to correspondence. Nevertheless, your contributions are being added to the database and acknowledged on the contributions page and, although my replies are many months behind, I will attempt to get to them more often.
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