Who is the person who has died? I don't know about the Boer War, but in WWI notification for officers was nearly always by telegram, for other ranks more likely to be by letter. If it's a very senior officer - a general, perhaps - the War Office might send someone to see his family, especially if they're in London.
The person receiving official notification would be the person listed as next of kin by the man himself. Anyone else would hear it by other means.
Again in WWI the notification would normally say killed in action/died of wounds/missing believed killed/missing believed prisoner of war, as appropriate.
What do you want to happen? In wartime there's always room for things to go wrong, so you could probably arrange it however suits your plot, as long as you throw in a line about the official notification having gone astray, and make it plausible - you'd need a good reason to have a colonel visiting a private's mother, for example.
I actually have no idea what the rank would be of the person involved; I suppose it never dawned on me that it would be relevant. All I know is that he's probably career military, since he'd be *counts* in his mid-30s at the time of his death. I can certainly research enough to give him a rank, though, if you think that's likely to answer my question
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The rank would absolutely be relevant, if only for the mother's social situation-- does she have servants, where is she living. I'd make a rough guess that middle class and above would be offices, working class private soldiers.
A book I've got about the First World War describes notifications coming in buff envelopes with OHMS (On His/Her Majesty's Service) on the outside. All government correspondence in fact used to have OHMS on the envelope, but most people wouldn't normally receive letters from the government, hence why it became a sign of bad news
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Having been thinking about this a bit, I vaguely recall mention of a page boy called Billy. But I have no idea where he's mentioned, or how he fits into the household - he could conceivably be employed by Holmes and/or Watson rather than Mrs Hudson. But she'd still also have someone to help with the rough work.
The person receiving official notification would be the person listed as next of kin by the man himself. Anyone else would hear it by other means.
Again in WWI the notification would normally say killed in action/died of wounds/missing believed killed/missing believed prisoner of war, as appropriate.
What do you want to happen? In wartime there's always room for things to go wrong, so you could probably arrange it however suits your plot, as long as you throw in a line about the official notification having gone astray, and make it plausible - you'd need a good reason to have a colonel visiting a private's mother, for example.
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Having been thinking about this a bit, I vaguely recall mention of a page boy called Billy. But I have no idea where he's mentioned, or how he fits into the household - he could conceivably be employed by Holmes and/or Watson rather than Mrs Hudson. But she'd still also have someone to help with the rough work.
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