A Military Tale

The story of Grandfather Edward’s family includes three of his uncles – Peter (born 1867), Edward (1869) and Francis (about 1870), who served in the Monaghan Militia†. Thanks to some records unearthed in 4004 B.C., a bit more information is available about these men, including that Peter and Edward joined the militia at the same time on 14th March 1886. Francis probably did too, but those records haven’t yet been found.

Edward was 16 when he joined. His career in the militia was short, for he was killed in a confrontation between them and a protestant group after just three months. See his entry in the main story.

Peter remained in the militia right up to 1908. Peter had a family in Dublin St, but on the birth of his daughter Elizabeth in 1900, his location was recorded as the Transvaal in South Africa, which was curious as the Monaghan Militia was not officially assigned to South Africa at that time. Research revealed, however, that 86 members of the Monaghan Militia were reassigned to the 2nd battalion of the RIF and did active duty in South Africa. Peter’s service record (attached) confirms that he was one of the 86 assigned to the 2nd battalion. He embarked for South Africa on 28th February 1900 and disembarked home on 4th March 1901.

He was awarded a medal and clasps to record his participation. A medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration indicating the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the recipient has met the criteria for receiving the medal in multiple theatres. Peter received the medal with clasps for the Transvaal, Orange Free State and Natal. and a gratuity of £5 when he was reposted to the Monaghan Militia on 8th March 1901. Here is a picture (from Wikipedia) of a South Africa medal, which includes the Transvaal and Orange Free state clasps as well as others.

Queen's South Africa Medal with 5 clasps, obverse Queen's South Africa Medal with 5 clasps, reverse

The Boer War was tough – a potted history from Wikipedia has this to say...

“Poor logistics and disease, combined with having to fight against a disciplined and capable enemy of excellent horsemen and marksmen who perfected guerrilla warfare, made this a hard-won medal. In addition to men often having to go without basics such as food and water, enteric fever killed several thousand and was a constant drain on manpower. The published casualty rolls run to over 50,000 names, while studies of contemporary publications and reports put the actual figure for all casualties, including caused by disease, at 97,000”.

The 2nd battalion initially supported British troops in Natal, a British colony at the time, then moved to the Transvaal where they were mainly located at Machadodorp close to the main railway line linking Pretoria to the coast.

Peter was discharged from the militia in March 1904, but signed up again in May and stayed until May 1908, shortly after his wife Anne had died.

Francis is harder to track down. Pension records have been found for a Francis Murphy who was discharged in 1917 with an address in Old Cross Square, Monaghan. This individual served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers (briefly) and in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were in India in the 1890s. He also served as a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers. Pioneer battalions, created as an expedient in 1914, were intended to provide the Royal Engineers with skilled labour and to relieve the infantry from some of its non-combatant duties. Pioneers became the work horses of the Expeditionary Forces. Several new army battalions were raised specifically as Pioneers, while others were converted Territorials (militias) or Kitchener units formed originally as conventional infantry. Adopting a badge of a cross rifle and pick, these battalions wired, dug and reverted in all weathers and in all terrain.

His full service records haven't been found yet, but research will continue, as this is more than likely Edward’s great uncle Francis.


Back to page ↩

†  A militia is a military force consisting of people who are not professional soldiers in a permanent army. The 1st or Monaghan Regiment of Militia was embodied in 1793. Between then and 1855, it was disembodied and reembodied at various times in accordance with the military needs of the day. In 1855 it was embodied once again for the Crimean War, but a reorganisation across the whole of Britain led to it becoming the 121st or Monaghan Regiment of Militia. It was disembodied in 1856, but remained in a reduced form until reforms led to it being linked with the Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) to become the 5th battalion of that regiment. (The weird bracketing in that name is not a mistake!) This was its correct appellation during the events described here, but the term "Monaghan Militia" will be retained for simplicity.  ↑