BOER WAR PARTICIPANTS FROM THE COROMANDEL-HAURAKI DISTRICT is to be found on the South African War Memorial Page.
It includes the name of HARRY CORNES, who was the son of Clement Augustus and Barbara Ellen CORNES. Harry was born 14 Nov 1882 at Waihou and died 11 Jan 1905 at London, England. We always believed that this was while he was still in service, but in his war file that is now available at archives, Harry had been discharged 1902. A genealogists work is never done...the next step to find out why he was in England.
Another Cornes with a mention to West Africa was E CORNES, believed to be Harry's brother EDMOND MORRIN CORNES (II). In the 1900 Electoral rolls Edmond/Edmund is a miner at Karangahake, 1905 a miner at Waiorongomai and 1911 a farmer of Waihou. Edmond married ALICE MAY BROWN on 27 November 1907 at Thames. A letter sent to E Cornes is below, from the The Goldfields Diamond Drilling Co Ltd of Thames - on the eve of his departure for West Africa.
I assumed this meant to the war, but given the date 1904, he may have been leaving for work with the company, or for mining. Yet another mystery to be solved.
 |
| Letter sent to E CORNES in 1904 (Click to enlarge) |
