South African Light Horse Boer War

[HeyCoop]

Is there anyone who can do look ups or tell me where to look for service records for the Boer War, my grandfather Henry Langley Cooper born 8th February, 1877 in Surry Hills, Sydney, fought in the South African Light Horse Contingent during the Anglo Boer War. I have checked on Aust. War Memorial and National Archives, the only Henry Cooper that shows up is from Tasmania, whereas my grandfather was from Sydney. I have been told it's possible that his records could be listed on the British Archives, I have emailed them and waiting a reply, not sure if this will have results, and at present am trying to cover all options.
Cheryl.

[meles]

This might help.

http://angloboerwar.com/

meles

[neil1821]

Cheryl,
Although he may have been Australian, he wouldn't appear on the Aust. War Memorial or archives as he wasn't in an Aust. unit. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't expect him to appear in the British archives either as his unit wasn't British.

SALH were a local South African unit raised in Cape Colony, so I's say South African archives would be the place to look.

[meles]

South African records can be found here.

http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm

meles

[km1971]

Hi Cheryl

An attestment record of men enlisting in local (South African) and colonial (Australia etc) forces was sent to the War Office and are in series WO127 (I believe). They are usually only one page. But you do get a NoK, an intended residence and how much they left with. There is also a summary book in another series. These are original documents, so normally you would have to visit Kew.

The pay of these mounted infantry was about 4-5 times that of a British Private, so I assume London asked for copies to ensure they actually got a bum in the saddle for their money. From memory they are the originals, with the recruits signature.

It appears that the success rate depends very much on when he enlisted. The SALH were one of the first of the local forces and there are fewer papers to early enlistments than to later ones. A lot of Aussies went to SA and joined a SA unit rather than wait for an Aussie unit to be formed. The expert on all this is Kevin Asplin and this link - http://hometown.aol.co.uk/kevinasplin/wo127index.html - gives his web site, and includes a link for contacting him. The SALH are not in his list, but I know that a month ago he had indexed the As and Bs of the SALH.

If Kevin cannot help you I have on my list a task of doing a SALH medal roll lookup for a medal I have, so I will look up Cooper for you.

Ken

[forester]

It looks like Enrolment Forms are WO 126/130-138 and Nominal Rolls are WO 127/20.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/043w/

Phil

[spof]

Cheryl,
Although he may have been Australian, he wouldn't appear on the Aust. War Memorial or archives as he wasn't in an Aust. unit. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't expect him to appear in the British archives either as his unit wasn't British.

SALH were a local South African unit raised in Cape Colony, so I's say South African archives would be the place to look.

As Australia didn't become Australia as such until 1 January 1901 and there were several State "armies" involved, perhaps your man who was born in Sydney may have moved away from Sydney. Could SALH mean South Australian Light Horse?

http://www.australian-armour.com/ALH_PreWW1_SA.html

In which case the South Australian State Archives would be the place to look. Try the Australia board

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=165

Glen

[bridgy]

Hi Cheryl
Like  you I had a number of rellies who served in the Boer War.  The following web site was very helpful so try it and see what you can find.
http://www.perthdps.com/military/index.html
Good luck with your search.
regards
Jan

[HeyCoop]

Thank you so much to everyone for all your help, will get my act into gear and start investigating. Will let you know if I get any results.

Very much appreciated, thanks again.
Cheryl