TOPIC:

Once again - Thanks very much for this and for taking the time and trouble to get back to me.
It looks like you have had a real project on your hands and it is very generous of you to share it so freely.
Kind Regards
Chris

Chris,
Most of the "missing" on Spioenkop were later found to be killed.
Apart from men being unrecognisable from an explosion, or from being left unburied for some days, there is a common factor why many graves on the veldt are those of unknown men. In the front flaps of the khaki drill tunic were two internal pockets, one containing the First Field Dressing, the other containing a calico card on which are inscribed name, number, regiment, and next-of-kin. Surgeon Blake Knox noted “men often take off their coats in action, and they are temporarily mislaid, or their coats may be taken off to dress their wounds. Should such men be killed or die, all means of identification may be lost…” . The Boers carried a Red Cross identification card in a pocket.
Once identification cards were removed, although the man would be recorded as killed, his body could often not be identified. Burial parties were generally chosen from troops who would not know the dead, e.g. many burials on Spioenkop were done by the Dorsets under flag of truce, etc.
See a previous thread on this: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/21-uniforms-b...ipment/27308-id-tags
If you ever travel to Spioenkop I'd be glad to advise you about your trip.

Chris - There is only one McCormick/McCormack I can find on the Sudan or QSA medal rolls of 2/LF. Elmarie's listing of LF KIA/DOW in South Africa has 4913 W. McCormick which can only mean that his list and both Sudan medal rolls are correct and the QSA roll with the same number showing E. McCormack is an initial and name spelling error not uncommonly found on medal rolls. It's clearly the same man.

David

David
Thank you very much for this.
As I frequently say, all those years ago, when rolls were being compiled, medals constructed and named, they had
no thought at all for us poor collectors and researchers many years later trying to dot every 'i' and cross every 't'.
Once upon a time, any deveiation would have given me the wobbles but I am more pragmatic now.
Thanks again.
Chris

Rob D.
Thanks for this - it is what I had thought myself although I confess (much) ignorance on the means that soldiers were identified later.
That is a fascinating topic in it's own right and I am grateful for the pointers.
One extra thing - how long after the fight on Spion Kop did the truce permit the burial of those dead soldiers?
Although I doubt that I will be in any position to visit South Africa any time in the near future I am very grateful for your
kind offer.
Thanks again
Chris

Chris, the burial truce began on 25 January and was renewed daily for a while; it only applied on Spioenkop summit, fighting continued elsewhere. On 25 January Reverend Gedge and Father Collins buried 138 men; on 26 January they buried 20, and on 27 January, a further 85. Collins wrote: ‘There was a total absence of anything like exultation over what they must consider a military success. Not a word, not a look, not a gesture or sign that could by the most sensitive of persons be construed as a display of their superiority.’
A few days later a party of visitors from America including the Hon. Webster Davis, visited the battlefield. ‘[The] dead which had been dragged in the trenches and sprinkled with loose dirt were protruding in a disgusting manner, many more entirely neglected, lying where they had fallen... The ghastly state and stench precluded the Republicans from putting the hill in a state of defense as the burghers refused to do duty upon it…’
John Coventry, a local farmer, buried soldiers lying out on his farm when he returned from the siege of Ladysmith (March 1900) by which stage he found identification to be impossible.