Private Thomas Anderson Austin
Number: 11084
Company: 60th (North Irish Horse) Company (Belfast), 17th Battalion
ENLISTMENT
Date: 12 February 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 20 years
Trade of calling: Clerk
Place of birth: In the Parish of __, near the Town of Londonderry, in the County of Londonderry
Family: Single. Father George Austin, merchant draper, mother Bessie (nee Steed), Victoria Park, Londonderry.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 7 1/4". Complexion fresh, eyes blue, hair fair. Scar left breast; scar both shins; tattoo female figure left forearm; numerous tatto marks right forearm.
Religion: Not stated on enlistment papers, but the 1901 Census records his family as Methodists
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 7 April 1900
Campaigns: South Africa 1899-1902
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal; Rhodesia clasp.
DEATH
Date: 24 August 1900
Place: Enkeldoorn
Cause: Dysentery
Buried/ commemorated: Enkeldoorn Cemetery
The seeds of disease had not yet been eliminated from the ranks of the Irish Yeomanry, and several men were left behind in the hospital at Enkeldoorn. One of these - Trooper Austin of the 60th - his comrades never saw again for he died a week after their departure. (Sharrad H. Gilbert, Rhodesia - And After: Being the Story of the 17th and 18th Battalions of the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa, 1901.)
We regret to announce that Mr. George Austin, of Londonderry, has received a telegram from the War Office announcing the death of his son, Mr. Thomas Austin, at Enkeldoorn Hospital, on the 24th inst., of dysentery. The deceased, who was a fine healthy man of about nineteen, joined the Yeomanry, from Belfast, and was attached to the 60th Company, with General Carrington. Although coming late into the fighting field, the Yeomanry companies attached to General Carrington's fighting force had for months to fight for life against the deadly malaria of the districts of Rhodesia through which they marched. There will be general regret at the death of young Austin, who, it will be recalled, was referred to by a brother yeoman in a letter we published recently. (Londonderry Sentinel, 30 August 1900.)
This page last updated 27 July 2024.