Sydney John Charnaud

Sydney was born the 29 Jul 1884 at sea. He is the son of Fritz Charnaud and Derminia Borrell. He grew up in the Levant.

He was about 84 or 86 when he passed away. He remarried after his first wife passed away.

He came to South Africa as a teenager. After his father was nearly financially ruined, he secretly left and came down the East African coast on a cargo ship in stages.

When he arrived in South Africa at the age of 16 he joined the Boer War in the 3rd Railway Pioneer Regiment riding a horse as a despatch rider (messenger) and got a commendation/medal after being shot at and the horse getting a bullet in the nose. When he wanted to join they gave him the wildest horse they had and asked him to up a hill and back and after he did that he was accepted (this is approximately what I recall of the family story).

He was in World War I in service in the Cape Province & German South West Africa as a corporal in the 2nd Imperial Light Horse Squadron and served from 2 Nov 1914 to 12 June 1915. This unit was part of 5th Mounted Rifles. The Regiment took part in the German South-West Africa Campaign as the 5th Mounted Rifles as part of South Africa's contribution to World War I, where the battle honour Gibeon was won by the 2nd Imperial Light Horse Squadron.

He also applied to join in World War II but due to his age they did not call him up immediately. In a handwritten letter dated the 2nd of October 1940 we see he was supposed to be part of 1st Field Force Battalion which was a regiment in the 2nd SA Infantry Brigade but he missed deployment due to illness. In a reply letter dated the 2nd of October 1940 he was called up for attestation and duty as a corporal in the quartermaster section at Kimberley Air Station. See below sources for some of his military service records.

See also:

• WikiTree Profile
• Military Records
• Le Journal, Paris, France. A French newspaper article on Sydney Charnaud (pages 1 and 5).
• Marriage Record
• Anglo Boer War Attestation
• Nominal Roll from Boer War