Charles Henry Joseph Denis, SV/Prog

Charles joined the British German Legion to fight in the Crimean war, but the war ended before the legion could start active duty. They were stationed in Colchester barracks, UK prior to being despatched to Kaffraria in South Africa to settle and provide protection. Charles sailed on the Sultana and arrived in 1857. He was discharged from the army in 1860 and settled in the Katberg area. He married twio De Wet sisters and had children, many of which did not survive.

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The family was always told that Charles entered a seminary to study to be a priest. He was not interested in being confined to the seminary in France and made his escape, ending up in South Africa. We have some of his military records and know where he was despatched to, but after he was discharged from the army, we can find very little about him and his family. We only have the information we have heard within the family, so we know the family lived around Seymour area and that CHJ worked on building dams and bridges. He died in 1920 and was buried in the Cathcartvale cemetery. Later the family moved to Martindale in the Bathurst area where they owned the farm, Cypress Grove.

We have been attempting to discover his family in France but to date this has been a challenge due to the limited information we have available of his origins in France.