The Queen's South Africa Medal awarded to William Henry Small and the WWII group awarded to NX152534 Kenneth Andrew Small were sent to me by Lindsay R of the NSW RSL.
I found William's service details on a Boer War research website. He served in the South African Constabulary but these were only basic details. The clasps for his QSA are: 'Transvaal', 'Orange Free State' and 'Cape Colony'. Kenneth's WWII details were also easy to find. That is when I hit the first brick wall.
It wasn't until I entered Kenneth's name in to the British WWI pensions records that I found him listed as the next of kin of Henry William Small, later pages in this record swapped the names around again. Knowing that Henry's first name interchanged with his second name over the years helped considerably. Henry served in the British Army for many years and the last record shows that he was still serving in 1922. He full medal entitlement must have been impressive. In Henry's pension records it states that he was abandoned by this wife - Alice Andrews. Luckily Kenneth's address was given. Using all these details I found the immigration records of Alice and Kenneth when they left England for Australia in 1924.
It was then easy enough to follow them through the electoral rolls up until the 1960s.
Alice died in 1955 and her death notice mentioned Ken and Molly. Molly turned out to be Kenneth's wife Mary but they divorced in 1958 not having had children. I couldn't find a death notice for either Kenneth or Molly so that is when I hit the next brick wall.
Out of desperation I started with different search combinations on Ancestry until I came across a family tree which included Alice Andrews. That was the key I needed. This family tree was very extensive and confirmed what I had surmised. A message to the tree owner was answered tonight and my frustration is over.
The returned medal tally is now 1715.
Excellent.
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