Ashanti Star

 

The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War 1895 - 1896.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Ashanti Star was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. The medal was instituted in 1896 and was awarded to the members of the punitive expedition against the Ashanti King Prempeh.

 

This expedition came about due to the King's failure to honour conditions of the 1874 peace treaty, in particular the payment to the Crown of 50,000 ounces of gold.

 

The expedition included composite units composed of small detachments of men from a number of British regiments, although since the stars were issued unnamed it is not possible to identify these regimentally scarce medals, unless it is a part of group a named of named medals.

 

 

The medal is of a four pointed star design with a St. Andrew ’s cross between the points, 44mm in diameter and was struck in bronze. The obverse of this medal has a crown at the centre within a circle and the inscription; ‘ASHANTI 1896’.

 

The reverse has the raised inscription; ‘FROM THE QUEEN’ in the centre within a raised circle.

 

The ribbon suspender is a ring which passes through a smaller loop on the top point of the star.

 

The medal was issued un-named but those awarded to members of the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, have the recipient’s name and regiment engraved on the reverse of the arms of the cross. This was done at the personal expense of the Colonel of the regiment.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 31mm wide and is yellow in colour with a narrow black stripe towards either edge.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War.

 

The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War - The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War was brief, lasting only from December 1895 to February 1896. The Ashanti turned down an unofficial offer to become a British protectorate in 1891, extending to 1894. Wanting to keep French and German forces out of Ashanti territory (and its gold), the British were anxious to conquer the Ashanti once and for all.

 

The war started on the pretext of failure to pay the fines levied on the Ashanti monarch by the Treaty of Fomena after the 1874 war.

 

Sir Francis Scott left Cape Coast with the main expeditionary force of British and West Indian troops in December 1895, and arrived in Kumasi in January 1896. The Asantehene directed the Ashanti not to resist, but casualties from sickness among the British troops were high.

 

Among the dead was Queen Victoria's son-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg. Robert Baden-Powell led a native levy of several local tribes in the campaign. Soon, Governor William Maxwell arrived in Kumasi as well.

 

Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was arrested and deposed. He was forced to sign a treaty of protection, and with other Ashanti leaders was sent into exile in the Seychelles.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.