Trooper Martin Luther

Ancestor Details

Name of Ancestor: Martin Luther
Ancestor's date of birth: 16/01/1881
Ancestor's date of death: 28/05/1947
Cause of Death: lung disease - apparently the doctor asked my mother if he had ever been in a foreign country to which she said no - completely forgetting that he had been to South Africa. He never spoke of it apparently though my father (his son-in-law) said he told him things about his time there but Dad said it was 'better forgotten' being 'men's business'.
Service Number: 2274
Colony or State of enlistment: NSW, Place of Enlistment: Sydney or Tamworth
Unit: 3^rd NSW Imperial Bushmen Contingent
Rank attained in Boer War: TPR, Date Effective: 1898
Highest Rank attained (if served after war): No evidence of post Boer War service
Murray Page: 157
Contingent: Fourth New South Wales
Ship: Atlantian or Maplemore, Date of Sailing: 28/02/1900
Memorial details: buried in Brewarrina Cemetery
Decorations: Queen and King's South Africa Medals with clasps
Personal Characteristics: Prone to black moods and heavy drinking though my grandmother said he had not been like that when they first met. He was 12 years older than her - they married in 1910. He died long before I was born so I never knew him and my grandmother was a widow for 35 years until her death.
Reasons to go and fight: Ran away from home after a disagreement with his father to enlist, family did not know where he was for several years and he may have enlisted under his older brother's name. He would have only been about 17 or so. Have a faded letter to his sister from the Army as to his whereabouts.
Details of service in war: April 1900 - April 1901 in Rhodesia, west Transvaal including defence of Elands River Post (4-16 August 1900), and in northern Transvaal, great De Wet hunt (February - March 1901) and advance on Petersburg.
Service and life after the Boer War: Joined NSW Police Force after his return to Australia.

Descendant Details

Name of Descendant: Cheryl Mary Massey, Brewarrina NSW
Relationship to Ancestor: grand daughter

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