Father and son medals

This search was very frustrating. Over several weeks I managed to find snippets of information about Henry William Small and his son Kenneth Andrew Small. However, there was one key piece of information I just couldn't find. That was until the other night where a bit of desperation led me to find the solution.
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.

Charles O'Donnell

I was recently asked to do some research on a medal and the story I uncovered is worth retelling.
The medal in question is a Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasps Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony.  This medal was awarded for service during the Boer War.

The medal is named to 729 CPL W Oaks Victorian Mounted Rifles. However, it is immediate obvious that the original name has been erased and W. Oaks has been added. The number and unit are untouched. As can be seen in the pictures of the medal the rim is thinner near the W, the font is not the same as the unit name and close inspection shows that the renaming is done by chisel engraving where the rest is impressed. The final tell tale is the remnants of the previous naming to the right of the 'W'.

My mate Daryl is a QSA expert but between the two of us we just couldn't find a person by the name of Oaks who served in an Australian contingent to the Boer War. So we reverted to what was known: the number and the unit. This led me to 729 CPL Charles Edward Somerset O'Donnell. I'm convinced that this is the man who was originally awarded the medal. O'Donnell is also mentioned on the Australians in the Boer War data base and his photo appears as part of a contingent montage.

Source: T Humphrey & Co./Melbourne Leader 16.2.1901.

Usually medals are renamed for a number of reason, sometimes to deceive or to replace a medal in a group where the original has been lost. This got me thinking about why O'Donnell had either sold his medal or lost it. If it was sold it might have been due to financial hardship during the Depression which was a common occurrence.
While putting together the story about the O'Donnell the first piece of information I came across was the 1903 death of his sister. 

Source: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), Monday 30 March 1903, page 1
(Clicking on the articles will produce a larger view)

The death notice confirmed O'Donnell's mother's name and it also gave me his father's name. This is where the story really took off. 
As I looked at the electoral rolls for Edward O'Donnell, his occupation was listed as either Gentleman or Independent Means. At the time this meant that the individual was wealthy and did need to work. How interesting I thought. If the O'Donnell's were a wealthy family what happened so that Charles might have had to sell his medal?
The next article I found concerned a court case where Frances (Charles' mother) was petitioning for Edward to pay for her financial upkeep while they were estranged. The estrangement was attributed to Charles being violent towards his father and his mother always standing up for Charles. 

Source: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), Wednesday 29 August 1906, page 11


Edward had enough of Charles and moved out. The article details that the O'Donnell's owned several houses and that Edward was a retired Detective Sergeant. Edward and Frances must have later reconciled as they appear in the electoral rolls together for some years after this case. 
The information about Edward's profession then opened up more information. Trove is awash with articles about Edward who was one of the leading Victorian detectives from about 1865 through to the early 1900s. Many of the major crimes in Ballarat and Melbourne from that period were investigated and solved by Edward. 
All this previous publicity was inconsequential when compared to what happened on 27  July 1900.

Source: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), Tuesday 31 July 1900, page 5

Many more articles followed this initial one and Edward's condition fluctuated over several months. The story unfolded over some time and it transpires that Edward had been led in to an ambush when he was shot. The story came to a conclusion when a career criminal was arrested in Perth in October 1900 and identified as the man responsible for shooting Edward.

Source: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), Tuesday 16 October 1900, page 5

From what I could gleam from all these articles, Edward received a handsome pension and a substantial reward which allowed him to have Independent Means. However, it appears that the family fortune, as well as a large amount that Frances inherited, was lost over the years and Charles was left nothing.

Queen's South Africa Medal and British War Medal

This pair of medals is quite an unusual combination. The first one is the Queen's South Africa (QSA) Medal awarded for service during the Boer War. The QSA covered the period 1899 to 1902 and then the King's South Africa Medal was awarded after 1 January 1902 as Edward VII had come to the throne.
The QSA of this pair was awarded to 170 George Hamilton Sydney Maddock. George served with the 4th Contingent of the Queensland Imperial Bushmen. The clasps with the medal are for Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony. The Australian War Memorial Boer War nominal roll indicates that George was also with the 6th contingent. The QSA is named to the Queensland MR (Mounted Rifles). George's brother Arthur also served with the 7th Battalion of the Australian Commonwealth Horse.
George enlisted to the 11th Australian Light Horse for WWI. This link is to his service record. (To access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial.) He was later allocated to the Imperial Camel Corps. His British War Medal is named to the Camel Corps which makes the pair of medals unusual. The BWM is his only entitlement from WWI and this is confirmed in a series of letters in his service record.
George was from a rather large family, he married and had one son. All of his siblings who survived past childhood also married and had children but the family has been difficult to find. George and his brother Arthur married the Queale sisters but all of the close subsequent generations have died out. George's son and Arthur's three sons all served during WWII with one being a POW. However, none had children of their own.
I have found a relative who has considerable family history material for the Maddock family and I'll return the medal to her. Thanks to Rod S who forwarded the medals to me and to Catherine who wanted the medals returned in the first place.
The returned medal tally is now 1118.
The QSA:

 The BWM: