David
I am most grateful for the additional links. I am off on a tangent now! I usually confine my research to men whose medals have landed in my collection, but the Natal Germans of Alfredia (aka Alfred County) and the part they played in the Umzimkulu/Natal/Border/3rd Mounted Rifles has become a great distraction. I am now being further diverted by Major Sangmeister DSO VD even though I do not have his medals! (Those would be a prize beyond my means [and dreams]!)
The link to the Norwegian settlers of 1882 is interesting since it tells essentially the same story as that of the Germans who followed them to Marburg in 1883, and it is that group of Germans which included one of my (until recently unidentified) ancestors. A little bit of trivia that emerged was the mention of W Mason as one of the English settlers who, together with Mr & Mrs Sangmeister, welcomed the Norwegians to Marburg. Mason was William Victor Mason, who was married to Mary Jane McNicol from Glasgow, and who might originally have been Wilhelm Viktor Mauer (or something similar), a "Prussian". I have the medals of one of William/Wilhelm's sons, a QSA/Natal Rebellion pair named to the Border Mounted Rifles.
I had not known of Sangmeister's link to Lord Strathcona's Horse. The otherwise commendable history of the Natal Mounted Rifles and its associated regiments by Eric Goetzsche makes no mention of the Canadian regiment. I must now go back to Mike's excellent records of this regiment to see if I can unearth anything else pertaining to the Natal Volunteers.
Regards
Brett
