7th Brigade - Royal Artillery

Posts : 3 Join date : 2011-03-06

Hello all, I am looking for information about Gunner Richard Griffith from the 7th Brigade (RA), regiment number 3111.
He was awarded with the Zulu War medal, clasp 1879. I managed to find 2 medal rolls at Ancestry.com that showed different information about the battery he served. One of the rolls showed 8th battery and the other roll showed 20th battery, which I believe did not even exist at the time. Can someone please help me solving this mistery. Thanks

Posts : 3182 Join date : 2009-03-03 Location : Devon

Hi marcio.bento

Welcome to the forum

3111 Acting Bombardier Richard Griffith, Royal Artillery, served in the 7th Brigade, Number 8 Battery during the Zulu War.

Here is a photograph of his Medal

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
South Africa bar 1879, to Ag. Bombr. R. Griffith. 7th. Bde. R.A.
Liverpool Medal Company Ltd £475.00 05/09/2010

Posts : 3 Join date : 2011-03-06

Thanks. I purchased his medal and I am trying to find more information about him....No luck so far.

Subject: 7th Brigade - 8th Battery R.A. Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:00 pm

Hi Marcio.Bento.
A couple more details , according to the Medal Roll the 7th Brigade was commanded by LT-COL . LAW . F.T.A. Medal with Clasp
77-78-79 . The 7th Brigade , 8 th Battery was commande by MAJOR . ELLABY . H.A. Medal with Clasp 79 . There were 91 Medals
issued to this Brigade and Battery , 3 Medals and Clasps returned to Woolwich / Mint. The breakdown of Clasps is as follows ....
Clasp 77-78. (23) , 77-78-79 . (12) , 79. ( 54) , No Clasp ( 2) . Not exactly what your looking for , but hope this is a little helpful.
cheers 90th. Idea

Subject: 7th Brigade - 8th Battery R.A. Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:29 am

Hi Marcio.Bento
I think or it seems that 8th Battery - 7th Brigade came from St. Helena , Two 7 pr 200lb RMLs.
On hearing of Isandlwana , Capt . R. Bradshaw , R.N , Of HMS SHAH , on his own initiative , loaded part of 8/7 and one Co. of
Connaught Rangers , for Durban . At the time SHAH was under orders to return to England . Capt Bradshaw's decisive action
recieved the approval of Parliament and the Admiralty .
Cheers 90th . Idea

Posts : 3 Join date : 2011-03-06

Hi 90th,

thanks for the information. It is useful. Finally I managed to find a lot about Richard Griffith. It was hard to research since his name was not accuratley engraved in the Medal. His real name is Richard Prout Griffiths. He was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The birth year was 1853. He first served at the Royal Pembroke Militia and then joined the RA on 29th May 1871.
He spent most of his military life from 1871 to 1882 in UK, but also served in Malta (1872-1873), St Helena (78-79), Natal / Zululand (Feb-Aug 79) and back to St Helena (Aug 79-Feb 80). He discharged Nov 07th 1882.
He married a lady called Alice in 1881 and had a son in 1882. The last Census I could find his name was 1901. The 1911 Census shows his wife as a widow.....I was not yet able to find when exactly did he pass away.
I will now start searching for his regiment and your information will be a very good starting point. Thanks