Archibald Edward Boyd, Paget's Horse.

Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps "Cape Colony", "Transvaal" & "South Africa 1901".
13387 Sgt. A. E. Boyd, 68th Company, 19th Imperial Yeomanry.

Archibald Edward Boyd was born on 5th June 1877, the seventh child of James and Cecilia Clifford Boyd. The family is recorded on the 1871 and 1881 Scottish Censuses as residing at 4 Moray Place, Edinburgh. James (born 1827) and Cecilia (born 1848) had a total of nine children: James Craufurd (born 1868), Charles Clifford (born 1869), Cecilia Theodosia (born 1870), Frederick Kennedy (born 1872), Henry Leslie (born 1874), Francis Walter (born 1876), Archibald Edward (born 1877), Arthur Octavian (born 1882) and May Florence (born 1884). The family were clearly very wealthy; the Census describes James as an annuitant "living on own means" and they employed a number of female servants and a footman. The sons of the family were educated at various public schools; James and Frederick attended Cargilfield Preparatory School in Edinburgh and later Francis Walter and Arthur Octavian would attend Rugby School.

By the time of the 1891 Census, the family had moved to 18 Queen's Gate Place, Kensington, London, and were employing a household staff of a butler and five female servants. James, the eldest son, and Frederick were now students at Merton College, Oxford, while Henry Leslie (aged 17) and Archibald (aged 13) are listed as boarders at Sedbergh School in Cumbria. Archibald's father, James Boyd, died on 10th June 1894 leaving a personal estate in excess of £45,000, roughly equivalent to £3.5 million in today's money and giving some indication of how wealthy the family was. In 1901, the Census records the family as having moved to 17 Queen's Gate Gardens and employing a butler, a footman and five female servants.

Archibald seems to have originally envisaged a career in the Merchant Navy. On 29th April 1895, he joined the Royal Navy Reserve and on 9th December 1898, he was awarded his "Certificate of Competency as 2nd Mate of a foreign-going ship" in the Merchant Service. However, on 14th March 1900, following the outbreak of war with the Boers, he enlisted in the 68th Company of the Imperial Yeomanry, agreeing to serve one year with the Colours. The 68th was one of the four Companies, subsequently known as "Paget's Horse", raised by George Paget, an amateur soldier and Victorian adventurer. This was an exclusive unit made up of public school gentlemen, who were recruited through advertisements in fashionable London clubs. Paget's Horse wore insignia made up of the letters "PH" and this led to much speculation about its meaning, some wags claiming it stood for "Piccadilly Heroes", "Public House" or "Perfectly Harmless." More information about Paget's Horse can be found here.

Archibald's Attestation Papers describe him as a sailor in the Merchant Navy, aged 22 years and 9 months, almost 6' tall, weighing 170lbs and with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had an anchor tattooed on his left wrist and a snake and crossed flags on his right forearm. His religion was noted as Church of England.

The 51st, 52nd and 68th Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry (Paget's Horse) set sail on the troopship "Tagus" on 16th March 1900. Archibald was on his way to war just a few days after enlisting. His Service Papers confirm that his South African service was counted from 17th March 1900 till 23rd April 1901, a total of 1 year and 71 days. Little is known of the actual details of Archibald's experiences in the South African War although his Papers mention service at Elands River. He must have been a capable soldier as shown by his promotion to Sergeant. For his service in the war, Archibald was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps. On his return to England, he was discharged from the army at Thorncliffe on 23rd May 1901, his character being described as "very good".

At the age of 26, Archibald embarked on a career in the India Service, which he joined on 1st February 1904. Just over a year later, he married Grace Evelyn Lutwyche Waterlow, the daughter of Philip Hickson Waterlow, High Sheriff of Surrey and Chairman of Waterlow and Sons, engravers of banknotes, postage stamps and share certificates. The Waterlow family lived at Silverlands, a grand mansion at Botley, near Chertsey in Surrey. This magnificent house is now sadly neglected, but there are some interesting pictures giving an idea of its former grandeur here. The wedding of Archibald and Grace took place in the Parish Church at Botley on 28th June 1905. The officiating clergy were the Rev. James Boyd, the Rev. Francis Boyd (Archibald's brothers) and M. Hebblethwaite (Vicar of Lyne). There is a full description of the wedding in The Surrey Comet of 15th July 1905, which mentions that many guests were brought up from London by special train.

The newly married couple sailed for Bombay, India, where Archibald had a post as Assistant Collector of Customs. On 28th March 1906, their son Dennis Archibald Boyd was born in Bombay. Three years later, on 14th July 1909, their daughter Joyce Evelyn Boyd was born in Kent. Over the course of the next 20 years, Archibald's work would take him to Karachi (1909), Calcutta (1914), Madras (1918), Burma (1918) where he was promoted to Chief Collector of Customs, Madras (1922) and Rangoon (1924). In Calcutta, he also served as a Captain in the 37th Calcutta Presidency Battalion and was awarded the British War Medal for service during World War One. In Rangoon, he was Vice President of the Mayo Marine Institute. He retired in November 1929.
In the last years of his life, Archibald Edward Boyd lived at Pipers Cottage, Nuthurst, near Horsham, Sussex. He died on 8th March 1937, leaving an estate of £5,434 9s 5d to his widow. He is buried in St Andrew's churchyard, Nuthurst.

Archibald's elder brother, Francis Walter, served as an army chaplain and his younger brother, Arthur Octavian, had a successful career as an officer in the Royal Artillery. After studying at the Royal Military Academy, he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in May 1900. He went to France as a Captain with the 39th Battery, Royal Artillery, in August 1914 and served on the Western Front till October of that year, then again from July 1915 till July 1916, being wounded twice. He later served as Military Assistant at the Ordnance Factory, Woolwich, from 1917 to 1929 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1925. He died in 1958 at the age of 76. His medal group, consisting of an OBE and a 1914 Trio with MID oak leaf, was in the collection of the late John Tamplin and was sold by DNW in 2002.

ASC Supply Column to the Serbian Army.

British War Medal 1914 - 20.
Victory Medal.
Lieut C. C. R. Boyer, Army Service Corps.

More details to follow shortly.

Sgt. Frederick Blanchard, Civil Service Rifles.

Victory Medal. 
5063 Sgt. F. O. Blanchard, 15th London Regiment (Civil Service Rifles).

Frederick Oxley Blanchard was born in 1894 and in 1915 he was living at 94 Hemingford Road, Barnsbury and working as a shop assistant. He enlisted in the 15^th London Regiment for the duration of the war at Somerset House on 2nd September 1915. His surviving Attestation Papers state that he was 21 years 8 months old, 5’ 7” tall, and weighed 9st 4lbs. His actual army service was reckoned from 2nd December 1915 when he joined the Reserve Battalion of the 3/15^th Londons.

After a period of basic training, Frederick embarked for the Western Front, sailing from Southampton on 20th June 1916, passing through the Base Depot and finally joining the 1/15^th Londons in the field on 7th July 1916. At the end of July the Civil Service Rifles marched out of the pleasant village of Camblain l'Abbe and began the long march to the Somme sector.

It can be assumed that Frederick went through the later part of the Somme campaign, taking part in the attacks on High Wood on 15th September and the Butte de Warlencourt on 7th October, in which the Battalion suffered terrible casualties. Frederick seems to have been an efficient soldier as he was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 25th September, and promoted Corporal three days later.

Christmas Day 1916 was spent in the trenches but the men were in good spirits, having carried out a successful trench raid two days previously. Frederick was working on moving sandbags when he suffered an inguinal hernia that resulted in him being sent to the 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station on 6th January 1917 and eventually back to England in early February. He spent time in hospitals in Norwich and Eastbourne before being sent to join the Reserve Battalion at Wimbledon.

Further advancement followed as he was appointed paid Acting Lance Sergeant on 18th July and promoted Acting Sergeant on 17th September. In June 1918, however, Frederick was reverted to the rank of Corporal by his C.O. because of neglect of duty. Unfortunately, his surviving service records do not give any details of what form this neglect took.

In November 1918, Frederick once again found himself with the 1/15^th London Regiment in France. The fighting was over and time was spent on playing sports and attending concerts and theatrical revues. According to the Regimental History: "After a really merry Christmas, the Battalion began to melt away. Demobilisation began in earnest with the New Year, and parties of twenty-five or thirty left for England almost daily." Frederick was promoted back to paid Acting Sergeant on 7th February 1919 and shortly after it was his turn to leave for England.

 

Frederick Oxley Blanchard was finally discharged from the army on 20th March 1919 after serving a total of 3 years and 110 days. His intended place of residence was back in Hemingford Road. On 17th July 1920, Frederick married Eva Constance Stocker at St Anne’s church, Tollington Park, Islington. In September 1921, he signed Army Form B.5112, acknowledging receipt of his British War Medal and Victory Medal.The whereabouts of the former are unknown and, interestingly, the rank on the latter appears to have been corrected to read "Sgt" despite the fact that Corporal was the highest rank he achieved while on active service during the war.

In the 1930s, Frederick and his wife moved to "Rose Cottage", Chequers Lane, Preston, Hitchin. There is a lot of information about their later life here. Frederick Oxley Blanchard passed away on 24th February 1979, leaving an estate of £29,934.

The Nottingham Road Rifle Association.

Queen's South Africa Medal with no clasp.
Trooper A. Stead, Nottingham Road Rifle Association.

Queen's South Africa Medal with no clasp.
Trooper W. Woodhouse, Nottingham Road Rifle Association.

The town of Nottingham Road is located in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa 19km south of Mooi River and 59km north west of the provincial capital Pietermaritzburg. European settlement in this area had started in the first half of the 19th century but increased in pace from 1849 onwards with the implementation of various immigration schemes designed to attract settlers to the region. One such was the Byrne Immigration Scheme, which for a sum of £10 provided the sea voyage from England to Durban and an allotment of 20 acres of land. The settlers who arrived in this area found much of the land infertile and totally unsuitable for farming and, in addition, had to contend with native raids on their cattle and horses. Wild animals, such as elephants, lions, leopards, and wild dogs, were abundant, and caused further loss of livestock. In 1856, the 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot finished construction of a fort intended to bring an end to native cattle raiding and this location became known as Nottingham Road.
The Nottingham Road Rifle Association was formed in January 1889. Its members used the Martini Henry rifle, the recoil from which could badly bruise one's shoulder. When the South African War broke out in October 1899, there were fears that Boer forces would rapidly move south and occupy Pietermaritzburg. Consequently, Town Guards were established in many places and the local Rifle Associations were called out.

When the Boers reached Mooi River, the Nottingham Road Rifle Association, under the command of Major George Ross, along with other irregular units, were called on to patrol the area in order to ascertain the position and strength of the Boer forces until regular troops could arrive. The contemporary historian Clement Stott, author of “The Boer Invasion of Natal” described these men as “local farmers ... [who] rendered most valuable assistance on account of their knowledge of the surrounding country."

One British officer who served briefly with these local forces was 29-year-old Major Hubert Gough who had arrived in Durban on 23 November 1899. He was immediately sent up to Nottingham Road by the night train and he was very impressed with what he later saw. In his own words "Here I joined a Rifle Association (actually a squadron of the Natal Carbineers) composed of about 80 loyal Natal farmers, riding their own horses and providing a few necessaries in the way of kit. I found them a friendly, practical body, ready to fight when required, but not at all inclined to gallop thoughtlessly into danger. My military experience of this war began at once. At dawn next morning we set forth on reconnaissance east of the railway. Riding with these Natal farmers, I covered about 30 miles and back in a day and returned to Nottingham Road the same evening. We did not encounter any Boers, but in that long ride I had been taught more about reconnaissance than I had learnt in over 10 years' service in the cavalry. They moved by bounds, like wild animals carefully approaching their prey, and this has now become the classic method of advance for scouts." Gough’s experiences at Nottingham Road would prove instrumental in shaping British tactical thinking as the war progressed.

In total, fewer than 45 members of the Nottingham Road Rifle Association received the Queen’s South Africa Medal. The examples shown here are named to Troopers A. Stead and W. Woodhouse. Interestingly, two of the early settlers in the region were a Matthew Stead and a William Woodhouse. (see http://shelaghspencer.com/settlers/) Could these have been related to the recipients of these medals?

The original medal roll for the Nottingham Road Rifle Association was signed by James King, the Association’s president, on 10th March 1905 and shows that 32 Queen’s South Africa Medals were issued on 1 September 1906 to men who were “called out for active military duty against the enemy.” A supplementary roll of 9 extra names omitted from the original roll was signed by James King on 18th February 1908. For some reason the latter roll shows the rank of the recipients as “member” whereas on the original roll they are described as “trooper.”