2/4th Hants. Who was "young Scott"?

[charlie962]

2 minutes ago, wainfleet said:

Is the identification of Gilliam's parents definite

Yes. But I haven't looked to see if eg there was a pub next door. She was described in one of the census as housekeeper

 

5 minutes ago, wainfleet said:

the wrong age by some distance to play on equal terms as youngsters

We don't know that they were 'on equal terms'; in 1907 when Curtiss senior left the Navy ,Emery was 20 and Curtis 9. I agree that is a big separation to be 'playing'. Emery could have been a bit immature, still living at home ....

 

On 08/09/2019 at 11:58, wainfleet said:

and he had some boxing gloves

I even tried looking for boxing references for Emery senior in London. His forename was James. There are 1899 refs to a boxer Jim Emery, but he came from Borough rather than Islington.  Perhaps clutching at straws but sort of what one has to do in these circumstances to try and include/exclude.

 

Are you sure you started with the complete list of casualties ?

 

What could have been distorted in the retelling ?

 

Charlie

[IPT]

The problem is that the author appears to be quoting extracts from correspondence from Curtis, around 47 years after the fact.  We don't know if Curtis remembered correctly or if the author embellished it.

 

Wainfleet has correctly identified the likeliest date of casualty, but this skirmish may have been on another date. 'Scott' may have died of wounds a month later for all we know.  If you don't believe in the supernatural, then that is a likelier scenario. In any case, how could a medical officer jostle with a ghost? 

 

Another possibility is that Scott" actually was "Scott". Perhaps Curtis was mistaken, or misinformed, and Scott survived?  For example;

 

2/4th 

 

201780 Albert Frank Scott

33464 John Henry Scott

28961 George Scott

242107 James Scott

 

Could Scott have been 2/5th? Were they in the same area?

 

260128 John Scott

 

I did find one publican called Scott in a Hampshire village, with a son who served, but it's not our man.