TOPIC:

Hello,
I am looking for any information on 83rd imperial yeomanry eg; image of cap badge and any Information of their part in the boer war.The soldier I am looking for is 28134 Pte L.S.B Clark 83RD COY.IMP.YEO Q.S.A and WW1 PAIR 508298 Sjt L.S.B.Clarke R.E. I am not the greatest with computers, my kids will testify to this , I managed to find the Q.S.A medal roll and there is Clarke with an "E" but this is as far as I've managed to get.
Many thanks Paul.

Paul welcome to the Forum and thank-you for just giving me an enjoyable half hour - willing to assist more if required, otherwise I would advise you to subscribe to Ancestry & Find my Past and let your computer savvy children do the rest.

28134 Trooper Leonard Spencer Belfit Clark and wife:



The owner of the photograph is a Mary Knight who, if she is the home person on her public Clark family tree on Ancestry, is the grand-daughter of Trooper 28134.

As a fan of the IY this photo goes down as my find of the year. It was obviously taken before he ever saw South Africa which according to his service record (findable on Find My Past) he sailed for on 27 March 1901. He returned to English soil on 29 January 1902 and was discharged at Shorncliffe on 1 March 1902 as "medically unfit for further service". He was subsequently awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with 5 clasps - Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902. his discharge papers say he served in the 84th company of the IY.

Mary Knight does not show him as serving in the Great War. She has found him on the 1911 Census by when he and Florence were living in Plymouth with their four children and he was working as a Newspaper Advertising Clerk. She goes no further than that except to record he died in 1953.

Thank you very much for reserching this .So that is an actual photo of Pte Clark? Amazing. I wonder if ww1 medals belong to his son? Many thanks again
Paul

No - his sons were too young to fight in WW1, the eldest was only 14 when it ended.

It appears he did serve in WW1:



The Devon Regiment makes sense as he lived in Plymouth.

Just before WW1 started he applied to the Bideford Guardians for the post of Relieving Officer but was listed amongst the 11 who never got short-listed. They were a bit fond in those days of naming the "failures", I think it was to show the public that due consideration had been given to outsiders when they went on to appoint the local man.

I have gone off him as he won prizes in the 1920's for keeping Goldfinches & Bullfinches in cages.

The 1921 Census & 1939 Register show the family living at the same address as in 1911 - 20 Lanhydrock Road, Plymouth - the house still stands today. In 1921 he was working as a clerk for a firm of Admiralty shipbreakers. Bit hard to make out his occupation in 1939 as the enumerator has written it very small with lots of detail but he was definitely still a clerk.

The 1939 Register shows he was born on 4 March 1878 and Florence on 23 December 1877.

His death was registered in Plymouth during the 3rd quarter of 1953, aged 75.

Your a legend !! I have his 5 bar Q.s.a with the 5 bars you stated and his ww1 pair with his original fibre dog tags & a non voided R.E cap badge. I love collecting medals have done since I was a kid but I always wonder how and why they became separated from the family especially when there are still family members alive as in this case his granddaughter who I'm sure has her own children?