Surgeon Major P. Shepherd Army Medical Department.

Hi JY
I don't know why Muirhead didn't refer to Macleroy as ' Kelly ' in where you mention , but he does seem to refer to him as Kelly in other reports as we've seen ! .
90th

Hi,

Does anyone know how long Macleroy had been in the NCs or where he came from? Ireland, England, South Africa?

If i were reading the ‘Aberdeen’ report – I would assume (OK Ass...me) that Muirhead was very familiar with Willie & Charley etc but not so with ‘Trooper’ Kelly....even Scott is not referred to as Lt Scott.

Cheers

Sime

Sime,

If anything I would hedge my bets and say Muirhead know George better than any of the other Carbineers.  They both were born in Natal of Scottish parents who gone to South Africa in the 1850’s.  George’s father, also named George, was initially an Immigration Agent for those settlers, before he established the Natal Bank In Pietermaritzburg. As well that George Snr. was one of the Elders of the St. John’s Presbyterian Church that was established by Scots community in PMB in 1870.  

George Snr. was described as ‘...a man held in universal respect for the integrity of his character, the soundness of his judgement, and the wonderful calmness and gentleness of his temper and speech.  ...He was, indeed, a tower of strength to growing and struggling congregation.’

George Thomson MacLeroy was born on 7th November, 1856 in PMB.  He entered the High School circa 1867.  ‘He remained at the school for six years, occupying, when he left, a prominent position in the Upper Room. During this period he won for himself many friends, and on more than one occasion was awarded the Good-Fellowship Prize by them. He was greatly esteemed for his kind and genial disposition, and will long be remembered for his wit and humour ; as a caricaturist, also, he was much appreciated. On leaving school he entered into commercial life, and by close attention to duty gave promise of a successful future.’ * There is recorded incident in which he put pay to school bully, which might account for the Good-Fellowship awards.

He volunteered for the Natal Carbineers in some time in 1877/8, I can ask the family if they have an exact date.

I will do some digging on Andrew Muirhead to attempt establish his age; school and church to see if how much a peer of George Jnr., he actually was.

JY

* = see elsewhere on this site for that text.

Gary,

In answer to your query those other reports, that you mention, are derived from the same initial source.

JY

I'm now back from a week's holiday and can make a positive input to this thread I hope.
First re M'Leroy. It was common Victorian practice to write an apostrophe instead of Mac or Mc. You will find it all the time when researching.
Secondly re Kelly - MacLeroy. It all comes down to tracing the history of the reporting of the anecdote.
With regards to the Muirhead anecdote this was first printed in an unidentified Natal newspaper. From it a misquoted extract was re-printed on 8th MARCH (‘Heroic Conduct of Army Medical Officers’, The Lancet, Issue 2897, p. 351).
A misquoted extract from The Lancet's report appeared in the Western Mail, the Irish Times, both 8th March 1879, and Mackinnon & Shadbolt (pp. 279-80).
An edited corrected version but converted to reported speech appeared in the Aberdeen Evening Express, the Belfast News, the Belfast Telegraph, the Edinburgh Evening News, the Liverpool Mercury, and the Irish Times, all 15th March 1879, and was quoted in Stewart, Henry, Our Redcoats and Our Bluejackets, (London, 1880), p. 381.
Later re-prints like the Shetland Times one above can be disregarded as simply derivative.
All the research I've done indicates (as per JY) that MacLeroy's nickname was Geordie. Because one newspaper misread or misreported or made a typographical error when setting the type, it cannot be assumed that there may have been another nickname of Kelly.
This same tale can be repeated with half a dozen AZW characters where newspapers have got the name wrong - look where it led DR Morris with Davis-Davies and the command of the NNH troop (he did at least later acknowledge his mistake although subsequent TWOTS copies were never altered).

Photo of the medal can be seen earlier in this thread
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Aberdeen Press and Journal - Friday 14 March 1919