TOPIC:

Hello folks

My most expensive purchase to date, prompted partly by the clasps and partly by the man's service.

These are QSA to 1578 Pte C Castleman Prince Alf.Vol.Gds, clasps Rhodesia, Relief Of Mafeking,Orange Free State, Transvaal, and KSA with clasps SA 1901 and SA 1902 to 952 Tpr. C Castleman, Driscoll's Scouts. All confirmed by the medal rolls.

Based on research so far his service history is;

'D'Troop (squadron?) Rhodesia Regiment , Tpr, No 66, from 30/8/99-17/10/1900
2nd Brabant's Horse, Tpr, No 20606, from 2/11/00-13/1/01
Prince Alfred Guards Mounted Infantry, Tpr, No 1578, from ? to 7/9/01
Driscoll's Scouts, Sgt,No 952, from 6/9/01-2/4/02

I know that D Troop, Rhodesia Regiment, was at Fort Tuli, and I have found a picture of them there at
samilitaryhistory.org/vol124rb.html . The resolution is poor and I don't think it will blow up well. Does anybody know where I can find this photo in a better format?

He must have had a busy war, and obviously saw quite a bit of action, including being taken prisoner when with Brabant's Horse, on 23/12/00 at Burghersdorp. The casualty listing has him as Corporal at this point. Just noticed that Driscoll's has him as Sgt in the nominal roll, but his KSA is to Tpr.

I would like to find out more about these various units,and this man, if possible. I have looked at information on this site but would welcome any advice about other sources.

Thanks

Patrick

Patrick

Thank you for showing the Castleman pair of medals. Colonials who unit-hopped during the war are usually good subjects for research because they clearly wanted to see action.

If you have not already done so, it would be worth checking for records of Castleman pre- and post-war on the South African National Archives website. His unusual surname should make such a search quick and easy.

Regards
Brett

This could possibly be him

Death Notice in Pretoria as well as his wife (If this is him of course)

Regards
Adrian

DEPOT TAB
SOURCE MHG
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 0
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 4688/50
PART 1
DESCRIPTION CASTLEMAN, CYRIL.
STARTING 19500000
ENDING 19500000
REMARKS SURVIVING SPOUSE ALICE ELIZA CASTLEMAN (BORN WHITTAL).

Cyril Castleman's pair is very nice, the naming on the QSA is really quite typical and very annoying though, the PAGMI was actually an SAMIF unit raised for the war and whilst medals are found named to them, sadly a great many are simply named to the PAGV, there is, however, a nominal roll for these men here in WO127.
Also, interestingly, the medals were always, to the best of my knowledge actually named with the recipients name and rank as shown on their medal roll in WO100/264, which can differ from their roll in WO127, but certainly, not always, as mentioned, the actual unit name.
Moreover, even their appearance on the veldt was far more like the typical mounted irregular, than the PAVG, their pay came from a differant pot and they wore their own handsome PAGMI insignia rather the usual PAVG stuff, sadly, papers have not survived here.
However, I would expect that his original attestation and discharge papers have survived and should be in WO126/115-116 for the Rhodesia Regiment, WO126/6-14 for Brabants Horse and WO126/40-43 for Driscoll's Scouts, all good class C SAMIF units, I suppose we would have to say, the best of which would be Brabant's Horse, though certainly, the most interesting is the Rhodesia Regiment.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everybody. Yes, Frank, I did wonder why the QSA wasn't to PAGMI. He's in the PAGMI nominal roll on this site, although none of the men seem to have signing on dates, just discharge dates. I also imagine he'd be a bit peeved at not being given his rank of Sergeant on the KSA,


I forgot to say that the nominal rolls have him as Cyril Castleman.

A short obituary notice came with the medals, and the service history isn't entirely accurate , so I'm not sure how confident I am about the rest. It names him as Cyril Martinus Castleman ,born on 6 May 1879 at Uitenhage, and says he came to Benoni after his marriage to Alice Whittal on 13 Jan 1909 to work on the New Kleinfontein Gold Mine. He was later employed on the New Modder Gold Mining Company for 29 years as a rigger. It also states he held the 'South Africa Medal and clasp for the Cape Colony' and served with Plumer's Horse from August 1899 to October 22, 1900 and Driscoll's Scouts from October 6 1901 June 22 1902.

The piece about the medal and service sounds to me like poorly remembered/ understood family history,although the reference to the Cape Colony clasp is interesting, as the PAGMI medal roll initially lists him as entitled to it and is then amended to record that the ROM clasp was substituted for it, issued from the Rhodesia Regiment. As you can imagine, there are a number of medal roll documents, all trying to keep up with him!

Patrick

Patrick,

I can see why those medals appealed to you. I love the fact that the QSA is named to the PAVG.

That photo to D Troop of the RR is not one I have seen before. The source is given as the National Archives, Zimbabwe. I don't know how accessible that is these days?

Best wishes
David