Report from R W O'Hara [searcher@dircon.co.uk] dated 24 Jan 2000
Unfortunately, officers' service records for the Middlesex Yeomanry Cavalry have
not been lodged at the PRO. I expected to find them with similar geographically
located records deposited by the Hounslow Army Office but I also checked all the
other offices which appear in WO 76 to no avail.
I resorted to Army Lists.
His first entry is in the Army List for April-June 1873 where he was found in
the Middlesex Yeomanry Cavalry with the rank of Cornet having been commissioned
on the 26th April 1873.
This was unfortunate, for a major source of information on Army Officers is the
Memorandum Papers in WO 31 which are concerned with the granting of commissions
by purchase or otherwise. Often, and especially in the case the first commission
as Ensign in an Infantry unit and Cornet in a Cavalry Unit, accompanying papers
can be illuminating for they may contain letters to support the application from
the candidate's parents or influential relatives and friends.
However, the series ended in 1869, so, in the case of your great grandfather, we
just miss out. In the April 1876 Lists I found him with the same regiment as a
Lieutenant, having reached that rank on the 1st June 1873. Obviously the Army
did not waste any time in promoting him.
The June 1880 List shows him as Captain, having reached that rank on 3 Oct 1877.
By May 1881 he had left the Unit for he does not feature in this, or subsequent
lists until the 1902 Army List where he is a Major of the 1st City (Grahamstown)
Volunteers aka Marshall's Horse. I also examined the Allowances Books for
Militia and Yeomanry Cavalry for 1879-82 (PMG 13/40) but I could not find a
record of your great grandfather.
Due to time constraints I was unable to obtain a copy of his Medal Roll for the
2nd South African War or, presumably the Zulu Campaign of 1879.