Not forgotten: a mystery solved

A dozen or so poppy wreaths adorn the town's War Memorial after yesterday's Armistice Day ceremony. It's something I prefer to avoid as I find the sanctification of war intolerable but while waiting for the bus today I strolled into the churchyard to inspect the rows of small wooden crosses stuck in planters and placed around an obelisk that commemorates a soldier who fell in the Boer War.

This memorial has always interested me: who was the local man lost his life so far from home? The inscription (see here for a clearer image) reads:
Sergt. David James Sandsbrook, 1st. Batt. Welsh Regiment, born in this town Oct. 6th 1871, died March 14th 1900 of wounds received in action at the Battle of Driefontein, Orange Free State, March 10th 1900.

It seems the circumstances of his demise were as follows:
"On the 10th March a strong force of Boers barred the way at Driefontein posted on the heights. The 1st Battalion were ordered to storm the heights, whilst the Yorkshires and the Essex moved round on either flank. The ground was bare, and afforded no cover. The advance was made fifty yards at a time under heavy fire. Two more battalions were thrown into the fight, and eventually the whole line fixed bayonets and charged. The Boers fled to their horses and disappeared, our cavalry failing to round them up."
One of many totally pointless engagements in which heavily-laden British troops in battle formation were outmanoeuvred by lightly-clad and mobile Boer horsemen familiar with the terrain.

Sandsbrook is not a local name and when once I tried to trace this sergeant I discovered that no such surname exists on the whole of the internet, except for a B&B somewhere. How peculiar!
So I never did find out anything more about the mysterious 28 year old Fishguard man who died of his wounds four days after receiving them.

Today though I was surprised to see that among the ranks of anonymous crosses one, and one only, bore a tiny, pasted-on photograph of a soldier, a soldier with an impressive moustache and a cap perched at a jaunty angle, and it was positioned directly below the inscription on the memorial. Peering down I could see that written upon the wooden cross were the words "In Remembrance of Sergt. David Sambrook 1st Welsh Regiment".
Now, Sambrook is a local name with several branches and in fact I know someone who bears it. It seems that the inscription on the memorial is incorrect and he never was called Sandsbrook. What's more, some descendent has 'remembered' him.

Searching for the revised name I found that he is also commemorated on the Pembroke County Memorial as
David James Sambrook (Sandsbrook), Colour Sergeant, Welsh Regiment (41st Foot)

Until today I didn't know what colour sergeant means:
'Historically, colour sergeants of British line regiments protected ensigns, the most junior officers who were responsible for carrying their battalions' colours (flag or insignia) to rally troops in battles. For this reason, to reach the rank of colour sergeant was considered a prestigious attainment, granted normally to those sergeants who had displayed courage on the field of battle.'

Now as I wait for the bus I will know the real name and even the face of the brave soldier erroneously recorded in the graveyard here, just one of millions who died in a pointless, murderous, territorial dispute for the 'glory' of the British Empire.