Two separate Boer Wars were fought between the British Empire and two independent Boer states with the Second Boer War (1899-1902) being the one commonly known as the ‘Boer War’. Many famous people including Lord Baden-Powell, Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle and Mahatma Gandhi all served in the Second Boer War.
A unique database of more than 470 sources relating to people who served in the Anglo-Boer War is available on FindmyPast and may reveal the unit your ancestor served with and any medals, honours or awards they won. It contains 271,771 names, including a completely revised casualty list of 59,000 casualty records.
[There is also a very interesting write-up about Frederick John Sillifant on the Museum of the Manchester Regiment – The Men Behind the Medals site.]
A brief guide to researching British government and military records of the Second Boer War is available on The National Archives website. The online guide is available for people interested in the subject of the Boer War as opposed to those interested in finding a specific person who fought in the conflict, helping users to gain an overview of the main sources of the information that exists and where to find it.
David Biggins runs the site AngloBoerWar.com which aims to make available information on the Anglo-Boer War and to provide a forum for discussion on the many aspects of the conflict. Also an author of three books on the subject, David’s website includes biographical information, details of the medals awarded for the Boer War and other contemporary South African campaigns and information on the Imperial, Colonial, South African and Boer units that participated.
And there is undoubtedly much more…. including Ancestry, but of course! One more week of continental research – what will Thursday bring next week?
