British South Africa Company’s Medal

 

First & Second Matabele Wars 1893 - 1897 (Combined).

 

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

 

 

The British South Africa Company’s Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service in South Africa. The medal was instituted in 1896 and was awarded to troops of the British South Africa Company who had initially been engaged in the First Matabele War.

 

However, in 1897 the Queen sanctioned another two medals for those who had participated in the separate campaigns of the Second Matabele War.

 

Further, In 1927, the government of Southern Rhodesia issued the medal to commemorate the earlier 1890 Mashonaland campaign - also known as the 1890 Pioneer Column.

 

The medals are the same except for the name and date above the lion on the reverse. The three different wordings (and dates) above the lion denote the campaign for which the medal was issued.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal depicts a left facing effigy of Queen Victoria wearing a diadem and veil. Around the edge is the inscription; 'VICTORIA REGINA'.

 

The reverse depicts the scene of a charging lion, wounded in the chest with an assegai. Above the lion are the details of the recipient's first eligible campaign and its associated date.

 

In the foreground are native weapons and a shield, in the background is a bush, and below the scene is the inscription; 'BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY'.

 

In regards to the campaign details present on the reverse, these are either; 'MATABELELAND 1893' (issued for the campaign in the First Matabele War in 1893-94); 'RHODESIA 1896' or; 'MASHONALAND 1897' (issued for the campaign in the Second Matabele War in 1896-97).

 

If there are no details present at all then this denotes the Mashonaland 1890 campaign.

 

The ribbon suspender is of the swivelling ornate scroll style, attached to the medal by a claw mount – on this particular medal the ornate features are quite unique.

 

The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim, several styles exist including heavy engraved tall capitals, sloping capitals and impressed capitals.

 

Ribbon
 

 

The ribbon in 35mm wide and yellow-gold in colour, with three narrow dark blue stripes.

 

 

This medal was issued with the following clasps:-

 

 

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 First Matabele War.

- The Second Matabele War.

- The Pioneer Column.

- The British South Africa Company.

 

The First Matabele War - The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in the country today called Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) Kingdom. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, had tried to avoid outright war with the company's pioneers because he and his advisors were mindful of the destructive power of European-produced weapons on traditional Matabele impis (units of Zulu warriors) attacking in massed ranks.

 

Lobengula had 80,000 spearmen and 20,000 riflemen, armed with nine-pound Martini-Henrys, which were modern arms at that time. However, poor training meant that these were not used effectively.

 

The British South Africa Company had no more than 750 troops in the British South Africa Company's Police, with an undetermined number of possible colonial volunteers and an additional 700 Tswana (Bechuana) allies. Cecil Rhodes, who was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and Leander Starr Jameson, the Administrator of Mashonaland also tried to avoid war to prevent loss of confidence in the future of the territory.

 

Matters came to a head when Lobengula approved a raid to forcibly extract tribute from a Mashona chief in the district of the town of Fort Victoria, which inevitably led to a clash with the Company.

 

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.

 

The Second Matabele War - The Second Matabele War, also known as the Matabeleland Rebellion and in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, was fought between 1896 and 1897 in the country today called Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) people.

 

In March 1896, the Ndebele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company in what is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga. The Mlimo (or M'limo, or Umlimo) the Ndebele spiritual leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation.

 

He convinced the Ndebele and the Shona that the settlers (almost 4,000 strong by then) were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease rinderpest ravaging the country at the time.

 

Mlimo's call to battle was well-timed. Only a few months earlier, the British South Africa Company's Administrator General for Matabeleland, Leander Starr Jameson, had sent most of his troops and armaments to fight the Transvaal Republic in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. This left the country nearly defenceless.

 

The British immediately sent troops to suppress the Ndebele and the Shona, but it cost the lives of many settlers, Ndebele, and Shona. Months passed before British forces were adequate to break the sieges and defend the major settlements, and war raged on until October of the following year.

 

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.

 

The Pioneer Column - The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annexe the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

 

Rhodes was anxious to secure Matabeleland and Mashonaland before the Germans, Portuguese or Boers did. His first step was to persuade the Matabele King Lobengula, in 1888, to sign a treaty giving him rights to mining and administration (but not settlement as such) in the area of Mashonaland which was ruled by the King by use of coercion and murderous raids involved tribute-taking and abduction of young men and women.

 

Using this Rudd Concession (so called because Rhodes's business partner, Charles Rudd, was instrumental in securing the signature) between Rhodes' British South Africa Company (allegedly on behalf of Queen Victoria though without any official knowledge or authority) and Lobengula, he then sought and obtained a charter from the British government allowing him to act, essentially although in a limited way, with the government's consent. The next step was to occupy the territory.

 

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.

 

The British South Africa Company - The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was established following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd which had originally competed to exploit the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure British government backing.

 

The company received a Royal Charter in 1889 modelled on that of the British East India Company. Its first directors included the Duke of Abercorn, Rhodes himself and the South African financier Alfred Beit. Rhodes hoped BSAC would promote colonisation and economic exploitation across much of south-central Africa, as part of the 'Scramble for Africa'.

 

However, his main focus was south of the Zambezi, in Mashonaland and the coastal areas to its east, from which he believed the Portuguese could be removed by payment or force, and in the Transvaal, which he hoped would return to British control.

 

It has been suggested that Rhodes' ambition was to create a zone of British commercial and political influence from 'Cape to Cairo', but this was far beyond the resources of any commercial company to achieve and would not have given investors the financial returns they expected. BSAC was created in the expectation that the gold fields of Mashonaland would provide funds for the development of other areas of Central Africa, including the mineral wealth of Katanga.

 

When the expected wealth of Mashonaland did not materialise and Katanga was acquired by the Congo Free State, the company had little money left after building railways for significant development, particularly in areas north of the Zambezi. BSAC regarded its lands north of the Zambezi as territory to be held as cheaply as possible for future, rather than immediate, exploitation.

 

As part of administering Southern Rhodesia until 1923 and Northern Rhodesia until 1924, BSAC formed what were originally paramilitary forces, but which later included more normal police functions.

 

In addition to the administration of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, BSAC claimed extensive landholdings and mineral rights in both the Rhodesia’s and, although its land claims in Southern Rhodesia were nullified in 1918, its land rights in Northern Rhodesia and its mineral rights in Southern Rhodesia had to be bought out in 1924 and 1933 respectively, and its mineral rights in Northern Rhodesia lasted until 1964. BSAC also created the Rhodesian railway system and owned the railways there until 1947.

 

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.