Corporal James George McConnell
Number: 9457
Company: 46th (Belfast) Company, 13th Battalion, First Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 16 January 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 22 years
Trade or calling: Clerk
Place of birth: In the Parish of Newry, in or near the Town of Newry, in the County of Armagh
Family: Single. Father William John McConnell, manager of a corn merchant firm, mother Lucinda McConnell (nee Kerr), of Cariff House, Dublin Road, Newry
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 6' 0 1/4"/ 6' 2". Complexion fresh, eyes grey/ brown, hair brown. Scar on chest; scar right leg; scar right kneee; scar left armpit; mole behind right ear.
Religion: Church of England
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Date home: 27 August 1900
Actions: Lindley
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Orange Free State, Cape Colony, Transvaal, 1901, 1902 clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 17 November 1900
Place: Shorncliffe
Reason for discharge: At his own request
Intended place of residence: Ceariff House, Dublin Road, Newry
Conduct: No documents, unable to assess character. From personal observation and knowledge, very good.
Special qualifications: Clerk
McConnell was among the 400 men of the 13th Battalion captured by Boer forces at Lindley in May 1900. He was mentioned in a letter written home by fellow Yeoman William Cleland on 12 June from Vrede:
Dear Mother,-- I hope you are quite well. I am well at present. I suppose you have heard ere this of the 13th Battalion being captured at Lindley. McConnell is here; he is well. Holt is at Reitz. All the Newry men are safe, excepting poor Tom Walker, who was shot. We are well treated by the Dutch. -- Your loving son, Wm J. Cleland.
He must have been released soon after, probably due to illness, given his return to England on 27 August.
He later served in the 2nd Scottish Horse (Nos. 39727 and 38698) and was discharged in Johannesburg on 7 July 1902. (Some records reference him being invalided to Australia.)
Image from the Belfast Evening Telegraph, 11 May 1900.
This page last updated 7 August 2026.