Erroneous Claims

Many sources make several erroneous claims about Edmund O'Toole without producing any evidence of them.

These are:

• He was born in Grahamstown, South Africa at some unspecified date.

• He died and was buried in Salisbury, Rhodesia around 1891 or emigrated to America after 1898.

Our research will now correct these claims:

• He was born in Ireland. His Baptism Record  names his parents (Note that Ireland was part of Britain at that time so he was a British subject). 

• A contemporary newspaper article reports the presentation of the VC to him and names his father and brother and family company name, thus providing information of Edmund O'Toole's background.

• Also a contemporary article by a well known war correspondent called him Irish, the correspondent had been at Ulundi so it is quite possible that he met O'Toole.

• An article in the Black and White Budget  4th August 1900 refers to him as being resident in the Cape.

• His VC pension was paid until 1899.

• Unfortunately no record has been found of his death though there was an epidemic in the Cape in 1901 so it is possible that he was one of  the many who died then.

• The location of his VC is unknown.  It is not held in any public collection.

Note:

The Christian name appears as Edmond and Edmund at various times.

The Irish surnames TOOLE and  O'TOOLE are interchangeable so no significance should be taken from either being used in different sources.