Pension Files - PIN71

At the National Archives, London there is a useful class of papers that is not easy to use because it is indexed only by name, sometimes a ladies name, with no unit. Until you inspect the contents of a file you have no idea if the file relates to your subject, if you are paying a researcher this could be expensive.

The papers are Pension Papers, class PIN 71. They contain correspondence about the recipient's or widow's pension, most time there is a summary of the military career which can supplement service papers. In cases of a medical discharge or death in service there are details of the medical reasons behind the discharge or death, in the case of a wound vital details can revealed about the circumstance in which the man was wounded.

However, there is a clue to be found that can help determine if you should look in PIN 71. On the service papers found in class WO 97 (discharge prior to 1914) there is sometimes written on the first page a code ending "FW/M" - "FW" stands for "former wars".

This says "Go check PIN71" on the National Archives catalogue - Discovery.

Pension correspondence is not the most exciting, but as it concerns money there are useful details to flesh out the "man behind the medal" story; home and work place addresses, details on next of kin - wives and children and if you are lucky surprises. One recent PIN 71 file I read for a soldier I was researching showed that, while a soldier, he had two deductions made against his pay by the civil courts in respect of illegitimate children; gold dust for family historians!

If you are researching a soldier who died on active service there won't be service papers so no "/FW/M" clue. However, if you know his next of kin's name, especially if he was married, then it is worth checking PIN 71 using the next of kin name. I recently read the file for the widow, Clara, of Pte 2743 Walter Gibbard 4th Hussars. She received 5 shillings a week, in April 1918 a war bonus of 5 shillings was paid and in 1919 the pension for men killed in wars before World War 1 was raised to the level of that for men killed in World War 1.

Buying Books for Research

Seen a book for sale, in a catalogue, a shop or on a forum?

Before buying it is always worth using the power of the internet to shop around – prices vary dramatically. Of course the condition of a book is a major factor in the price, and your own collecting criteria (perfect condition only, slight imperfections or can tolerate “reading copies”?) will guide you to the “right price” for you. Even if you find the book on-line, you can always do what my father did and call the dealer, have a chat and usually agree free posting or sometimes a considerable discount.

Beware of facsimile reprints or POD (print on demand), these are cheap but in ones I have seen the binding (known as the oxymoronic “perfect binding”) doesn’t last long and more importantly fold out maps are not reproduced but simply copied folded up, i.e. useless!

If you are after a reading copy then a digital copy may suit, so search the internet for digital copies, many are out there. Electronic copies are offered in a variety formats: pdf, kindle, daisy, html, jpg. If you don’t have a Kindle then you can download Kindle Reader for free from Amazon to run on your pc/tablet. Forgotten Books also offers digital copies for a small subscription. Many of these you can get for free elsewhere, but the quality from the website can be better. You will probably not get the maps as in POD but in an electronic copy the binding doesn't break and it may be free.

To take a recent example:

With the Scottish Yeomanry: Being a Reprint, Somewhat Altered & Extended, of Letters Written from South Africa During the War of 1899-1901, TF Dewar MD, Arbroath: T. Buncle & Co. 1901

Offered recently by a specialist dealer for £75 in good condition with front ffep (front free endpaper) missing – a small imperfection. For a book about a small unit this seems like a reasonable price, a quick check of Bookfinder.com and abebooks.com shows this to be the case, with a number copies to choose from £113 to £145. However, there was one copy for £48 in good condition, some colour loss on spine and top half of the front endpaper cut off. So, very comparable to the £75 copy but £27 cheaper, both are in the UK so postage is not an issue.

And of course before buying, just double check you haven't already got a copy. There's a good quality copy of With the Scottish Yeomanry for sale.

EC Wright - mistaken identity

In July 1992 the medal auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb sold a Queen's South Africa and King's South Africa pair to Quartermaster Sergeant 11187 (61st Company (2nd Dublin)) and Lieutenant Imperial Yeomanry.

The catalogue contained the following research notes:

"Edward Cyril Wright was commissioned 2nd Lt., West India Regiment, 18th July, 1900, from the ranks of the County of London Imperial Volunteers. He served as A.D.C. to the Governor and C-in-C. Windward Islands from 19th January, 1906, to 18th July, 1906; Lieut. Wiltshire Regiment, 20th May, 1908; Captain 1st April, 1909; Staff Officer to local forces, Barbados 3rd July, 1908, to 5th October, 1913."

These details relate to a different Edward Cyril Wright who also served in the Anglo-Boer War: Lance-Corporal 12 City Imperial Volunteers.

It was this man who was commissioned into the West India Regiment (see London Gazette 17 July 1900)  and it is his career details wrongly attributed to Lt EC Wright Imperial Yeomanry.

Further proof comes from their birth dates:

EC Wright IY - ca. 1878 Rathmines, Dublin (WO128 IY Service papers)
EC Wright CIV - 7 July 1876, Naini Tal, India (Army List, British India Office - Births)

and there are separate entries for each EC Wright in the 1903 Army List.

The Register - the first "big list" of Anglo-Boer War participants is always revealing new information that sometimes, as in this case, corrects information many would take as correct.

A great research resource

There are hundreds, maybe over a thousand published sources for the Second Anglo-Boer War ranging from contemporary accounts and diaries, regimental and war histories, picture books to the modern histories and accounts. Other items not directly associated with the war such as maps and the wonderful The Encyclopaedia of South African Post Offices and Postal Agencies, Hale & Putzel, Cape Town, 1986 are very useful too.

In creating The Register I have consulted over 540 different sources which are listed here. In the past few days I stumbled across a new source made available through the internet: The Tablet, The International Catholic News Weekly. In The Archive section are OCR copies from 1840. In this paper can be found obituaries or less formal death notices about many Roman Catholic soldiers. I found it most useful for WW1 in finding soldiers who served in the ABW only to die during WW1.

The best connection was Father and Major Simon Stock Knapp, DSO, MC who died of wounds in 1917. The Tablet revealed he had served in the ABW. The only Knapp in the Army Chaplains medal roll is Father F Knapp; are they the same? A quick Google bought up this wonderful history of Father F[rank]/Simon Stock Knapp which proves the gallant Father so beloved by his soldiers in WW1 was Father F Knapp from the ABW medal rolls.

This connection would have been hard to make starting from "Father F Knapp", but now we know, and another character of the ABW is bought to life.

With the Gordon Highlanders to the Boer War and Beyond

With the Gordon Highlanders to the Boer War and Beyond Buy from Amazon
Lachlan Gordon- Duff, Hardcover (July 1998) Travis Books; ISBN: 0953216004

The book is the letters of Lt Lachlan Gordon-Duff, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. He joined the regiment  at the age of nineteen on October 1, 1899 and sailed for South Africa barely four weeks later. He was not to return until 1902 having fought at Paardeberg, Waterval Drift, Doornkop and Belfast. Gordon-Duff was a  well educated man from an aristocratic Scottish family which is reflected in his letters to his sister and father. He writes very well and gives a full and interesting account of war; marching, fighting, hunger,  boredom of blockhouse duty, coping with 'veldt sores', picnics with nurses and learning to play polo. In fact his only spell out of the front line was through concussion suffered playing polo. Intermingled are  letters from his sister and father telling of life at home, mostly social commentary. The whole book is hugely interesting, many officers are named and commented on; Baden-Powell "the great advertisement". However,  the most astonishing fact is that the letters are edited by his son, also called Lachlan and himself a Gordon Highlander. The commentary is brief and the editor sticks to what he knows best, family members and  events. The book finishes with a tragic twist that adds a poignant dimension to the publication, Lachlan senior was killed in France in October 1914, just three weeks before Lachlan junior was born. These letters  are all he knows about his father.

Dating a picture - Sergeant-Majors and Sergeants of the 10th Hussars

In compiling records for The Register often extra information comes to light about the lives and families of those who served, incidents in the war and tonight I have been able to date this photograph of the Sergeant-Majors and Sergeants of the 10th Hussars:

There are 44 men in the photograph which was obviously taken in England prior to the regiment's departure in November 1899.

This splendid photograph is published in an excellent source for pictures, The Transvaal in War and Peace, Neville Edwards, Virtue 1900 (page 202).


In researching the men to include in The Register, surprisingly only 23 men did serve in the war. The remainder either left the Army or remained in England. No initials are shown, so to ensure I identified the correct man it was necessary to use the service papers on FindmyPast. As FindmyPast have both Victorian and WW1 era service papers it is quicker than using Ancestry which just has WW1 era service papers.

I found one man, Sgt-Major Brownlow left the Army in mid-September 1899, the closest date I could get to the regiment's departure. Therefore picture was taken in no later than early September 1899.

Of the men who did serve I found some interesting pieces of information that all go into The Register to provide a fascinating archive. Not surprisingly most earned a Long Service and Good Conduct medal, some served in the Sudan at the battles of El Teb Tamaaai.

Sgt 3076 JH Palmer (right) is shown in the official casualty rolls as being wounded 31 March 1900 at Irene. His service papers reveal that his was severely wounded at the important action of Sanna's Pos (or Koornspruit). Medals to casualties at this action command a high premium, this information would double the value of his medal.

Sgt 2908 RB Cox volunteered at the age of 14 for the Norfolk Regiment from the Military Asylum, Norfolk. He transferred to the 10th Hussars, serving for 26 years reaching the rank of WOII. In 1916 he was commissioned into the Army Service Corps.

To determine the correct "Sgt Ward" from the two who served in the war, I found a set of papers for each. Sgt 3400 J Ward did not get promoted to the rank of Sergeant until 1902, so he would not have been included in this picture in 1899. After the war he attended the Delhi Durbar in 1911 and remained in India during WW1 so just earned a British War Medal instead of the usual Star and Victory medals. "Sgt Ward " is 2695 WG Ward who rose to the rank of Squadron Sergeant-Major by the end of the war.

"Clearly My Duty" - Jack Gilmour's Letters from the Boer War

"Clearly My Duty" - Jack Gilmour's Letters from the Boer War (buy from Amazon) 
Jack Gilmour, Patrick Mileham, Paperback - 256 pages (November 1994) Tuckwell Press;
ISBN: 1898410348

Sir John Gilmour, known as Jack Gilmour at the time of the Anglo-Boer War, was a subaltern in the Fife Light Horse. He volunteered at the first call for the Imperial Yeomanry in December 1899. The Fife Light Horse provided the 20th Company of the 6th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (the Scottish Yeomanry). The 20th saw much action including the battle of Nooitgedacht (13, December 1900).

These letters are well written providing not only a record of life on campaign but also an insight into the interests of a wealthy young man  educated at Cambridge University; politics, fox hunting, the future of Yeomanry and conscription amongst others. Gilmour was promoted to command the 20th and he also commanded the 14th Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in the Palestine Campaign during World War I.

The letters have been unobtrusively edited by Patrick Mileham, an expert on the Yeomanry and author of the The Yeomanry Regiments. The text is supported by a number of clear photographs showing many named men of the 20th in various uniforms.