TOPIC:

Many years ago I researched the nationalities of some of the SAMIF units. It showed that the number of non-Brits and Colonials increased substantially as the war continued beyond October 1900 and the release of the enlistments prior to that date if they so desired it. Many of the Americans came over with the hundreds of thousands of remounts and elected to enlist.

I'll post some of the figures in the coming weeks but for a start here are those for Menne's Scouts. Kitchener approved the raising of Menne's Scouts as a corps that was not to exceed 100 of all ranks and it recruited from December 1900 to July 1901. In all 290 served in Menne's Scouts for whom 123 next of kin forms survive.

The next of kin addresses are:

38 UK

31 American

15 Canadian

15 Australian

12 South African

6 Nil

2 New Zealand

1 Maltese

1 Indian

1 Argentinian

1 German


Best wishes,

Justin

Justin

Thank you for posting the very interesting figures for Menne's Scouts. It is one of the units in which I have a particular interest, since acquiring medals of the Fradd family - father and two sons.

The father, Edwin Horace Fradd, served as a Lieutenant in Menne's Scouts, after having been with Bethune's Mounted Infantry during the Ladysmith relief operations. Edwin was born to British parents after they had settled in Natal. He was orphaned and went to England to be cared for by relatives. He later returned to Natal, then lived for a while in Australia, before finally settling in Durban in time to take part in the Boer War. He was probably a not unusual citizen of Victoria's Empire, with periods of residence, and being equally at home in South Africa, Australia and England.

Regards
Brett

Justin,

That is very interesting research and shows more diversity than I had imagined. I look forward to the future posts on these units.

Best wishes
David

Hi Justin

My QSA (bars Tvl, SA01 & 02) to Menne's Scouts is to 98 Farr Sgt Harry Breward. He joined in PMBurg on 12 Jan 1901 and was discharged on 14 Jan 1902. Can you place him in one of the Nationality boxes)

Henk

Hi Justin,

I always thought they were exciting times, the world was opening up, people moved freely between the continents looking for adventure or for a a better life, not to mention GOLD.
The US was very much like SA or Australia and the people had the same outlook.
I've seen letters from New Zealanders who freely moved between there and SA.
Malta & India were British.
The Argentinian? I once met a Canadian whose family spent much of their life in Argentina. Also as I understand it, there was a large Welsh community in Argentina, I suspect that's why rugby is popular there.

But I find it a very fascinating topic, how the world became involved in the conflict in SA. I'm sure there were many units with such diverse nationalities.

regards, Iain