Figure 1.-- Here we an English drummer b writing home to his mother after the victory at Colesberg (1900). It was a stereoscopic card. |
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The British Army at the time still accepted boys. We do not have much informtion on this yet such as the ages at which boys could enlist. Some of the boys came from afew military schools run rather like orphanages in the 19th century. The boys accepted in the army commonly served as mussicians at first, such as drummer boys. There were also buggle boys. We would like to add more information and would be interested in any informtion readers may be able to offer. We do have information about one boy--Stanley Davis. A reader tells us, "I believe at the time of the Boer War, the lower age limit for overseas service was 14 years, although I think boys could enlist at a younger age.
Also, younger English South African colonists (not regular army soldiers) were used as messengers during the conflict. A great deal of information on British boy soldiers (and some on other countries' boy soldiers too) can be found a book entitle Sons of the Brave.
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