Friday 25 February 2011

The Boar War revisited

Tyne Cot Military Cemetery, Belgium

Recently I wrote about the Imperial Yeomanry in the Boar War in which John McIlhagga served. On 20th February 2010 I said I didn't know where he fitted in to a Clan Family Tree, but on 4th January 2011 I hazarded a guess that he may have been John G. McIlhagger who returned from the war to work in the Belfast Shipyards where he was killed, and I repeated this in my latest blog on 22nd February. Sometimes one's right hand does not know what one's left hand has done! I had been ignoring the information I gave on 8th September 2009 when I said that John Hutchison McIlhagga, who enlisted in the Saskatchewan Regiment in the First World War had previously served in the 134th Company, the Imperial Yeomanry, Irish Horse, gaining the South African Ribbon. This was of course in the Boar War, and he, 'John H', and not 'John G', was the McIlhagga who so served. He was killed in the First World War and is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium, illustrated above. And of course I do know in which Family Tree John H. belongs. It is the one based in the townland of Maxwell's Walls, Connor, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, where he was born to Nathaniel Owens and Henrietta (nee Wilson) McIlhagga. My apologies to all concerned!

1 comment:

  1. In December 1903 a J. McIlhagger returned to the United Kingdom from South Africa, arriving at Southampton. Despite the spelling of the surname, I think this must have been 'John H.' as I know of no other clan member who went to South Africa.

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