I'm a newbie to this forum. I wonder if anyone can help me with my mystery of a lifetime - don't ask, it's a long long story. To get to the point, I am trying to trace a man who is supposed to be called Robert Morrison but whom I have reason to believe used a totally different name which I have yet to discover. This, as you can imagine, makes things a little difficult.

One of the oral family stories about this man is that he was in the British Army during the Boer War and, to quote his descendants "was in charge of a POW camp, got sick and died". The man's son wrote in a letter years later that he had stayed with relatives for nearly 5 years while, and I quote, "my father was in Heidelberg - my mother could only take my brother who was the younger". Alas, I have already proved that this family love a good story! So, although I think there must be a grain of truth here somewhere, it is nevertheless possible that there is some embellishment!

The timeframe for those 5 years when my target was supposed to be in Heidelberg would have been the late 1880s to early 1890s. I am unable to establish whether the stay in Heidelburg would have coincided with the "got sick and died".

From the reading I have already done, it seems to me that the so-called POW camp would have been the Heidelberg Concentration Camp in the Transvaal. So 4 questions really. 1. Does anyone know of any records which may contain information of the officers who were in charge of these Camps? 2. Would he have had to be an officer to be allowed to take his wife and child with him? 3. Does anyone know of a good source for British Army memorials, graves or rolls of honour for the South African wars? 4. Any way to find out which regiment was running a camp?

Sorry this is so long - but any help appreciated!