The Australian Boer War Memorial
Anzac Parade Canberra

 
 
Corporal John Sproule

Ancestor Details

Ancestor's Name: John aka Jack McLean Sproule

Ancestor's date of birth: 01/02/1871

Ancestor's date of death: 28/12/1906

Cause of Death: Manslaughter, fracture and dislocation of the neck as a result of injuries inflected by another.

Service Number: 502

Colony or State of enlistment: NSW Place of Enlistment: Berry NSW

Unit: NSW Lancers

Rank attained in Boer War: CPL, Date Effective: 1902 (with Orange River Colony Provisional Police)

Highest Rank attained (if served after war): No details available

Murray Page: 12

Contingent: First New South Wales

Ship: Nineveh from UK Date of Sailing: 01/01/19

Other Boer War Service: After the Lancer Squadron left South Africa CPL Sproule stayed on and he was detached to the Commissioner of Police in the Orange River Colony from November 1900 to May 1902.

Memorial details: Interred at Berry General Cemetery with his father. Recorded at the NSW Lancers Museum Parramatta.

Decorations: Queen's South Africa Medal with: Johannesburg, Poplaq Grove, Dreifontein, Cape Colony clasps. Kings Medal with SA1901 and SA 1902 clasps.

Personal Characteristics: Volunteered for training in the UK from Berry Half Squadron of the NSW Lancers.

Reasons to go and fight: Was a serving Lancer.

Details of service in war: Trooper Sproule was with the NSW Lancer Squadron in the UK training at Aldershot when war broke out in South Africa. Lancer Squadron went from the UK straight to South Africa. The battles he fought in were: Colsburg, Orange River, Belmont, Noupoort. During these battles he had his horse shot from under him, suffered from Enteric Fever and was missing in action. He stayed on in South Africa as a member of the Orange River Colony Provisional Police until 31 May 1902.

Service and life after the Boer War: Did not survive long after his return, murdered in St Marys, west of Sydney in 1906.

Descendant

Name of Descendant: Colin McLean Sproule, The Oaks NSW
Relationship to Ancestor: Great Uncle.

 


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