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29/03/2024 07:33am

Cape Of Good Hope General Service Medal

Conflict
 
The Colonial Wars In Africa 1880 - 1887.
 
Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.
 
History
 
The Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during various actions fought in South Africa. The medal was instituted in December 1900 and was awarded to veterans of three campaigns fought mainly by the South African Cape Colonial Forces, allied to the British between 1880 and 1897.
 
The medal was issued, on application, to those who had served either in the Transkei Campaign (1880-1881), the Basutoland Gun War (1880-1881), or the Bechuanaland Campaign (1896-1897).
 
5252 medals were issued, nearly half of them for the Bechuanaland campaign but only 15 were issued to British troops and 96 issues of this medal were duplicates or triplicates meaning that in reality there were only 5156 recipients of this medal.
 
Description
 
The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the head of Queen Victoria and the inscription; ‘VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX’.
 
The reverse depicts the arms of the Cape Colony with the inscription; ‘CAPE OF GOOD HOPE’ above and the inscription; ‘SPES CONA’ below. 
 
The ribbon suspender is of the plain, straight and swivelling style riveted to the medal.
 
The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim in either faint indented or engraved blocked capitals, however, examples with impressed narrow capitals also exist.
 
Ribbon
 
 
 
The ribbon is 33mm wide and is dark blue in colour with a wide gold centre band.
 
Bars/Clasps
 
This medal was issued with the following bars:-
 
Transkei
Awarded for service against the Transkei including Tembuland and Griqualand East between 13 September 1880 and 15 May 1881.
Basutoland
Awarded for service in Basutoland between 13 September 1880 and 27 April 1881.
Bechuanaland
Awarded for service in Bechuanaland between 24 December and 30 July 1897.
 
Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.
 
Dealer Retail Value *
 
Cape Of Good Hope GSM with Transkei clasp
£335.00
With Basutoland clasp
£225.00
With Bechuanaland clasp
£200.00
For valuations for medals with 2 or more clasps please ‘contact us’.
 
* 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.
 
Further Historical Context
 
This section contains information on:-
 
- The Cape Colonial Forces.
- The Transkei.
- Thembuland.
- Griqualand East.
- The Basuto War.
- British Bechuanaland.
 
The Cape Colonial Forces - The Cape Colonial Forces were the official defence organisation of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Established in 1855, they were taken over by the Union of South Africa in 1910, and disbanded when the Union Defence Forces were formed in 1912.
 
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 Transkei - The Transkei (meaning the area beyond the river Kei), officially the Republic of Transkei was a Bantustan - an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity - and nominal parliamentary democracy in the south eastern region of South Africa. Its capital was Umtata (renamed Mthatha in 2004).
 
Transkei represented a significant precedent and historic turning point in South Africa's policy of apartheid and '…separate development'; it was the first of four territories to be declared independent of South Africa.
 
Throughout its existence, it remained an internationally unrecognised, diplomatically isolated, politically unstable de facto one-party state, which at one point broke relations with South Africa, the only country that acknowledged it as a legal entity. In 1994, it was reintegrated into its larger neighbour and became part of the Eastern Cape province.
 
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.
 
Thembuland - Thembuland is a natural region in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Its territory is the traditional region of the Thembu people, one of the sub-groups of the Xhosa nation. It was formerly also known as 'Tamboekieland' or 'Tambookieland', it was Incorporated into the Cape Colony in 1885.
 
Thembuland was defined at the time as being the territory between Umtata and the Tsomo River, and home to 60,000 people. Thembuland also submitted troops to the Frontier Armed forces of the Cape Colony, who, in this capacity, fought several victorious campaigns against their Gcaleka and Mpondo enemies.
 
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.
 
Griqualand East - Griqualand East, officially known as New Griqualand was one of four short-lived Griqua states in Southern Africa from the early 1860s until the late 1870s and was located between the Umzimkulu and Kinira Rivers, south of the Sotho Kingdom.
 
Griqualand East's capital, Kokstad, was the final place of settlement for a people that had migrated several times on their journey from the Cape of Good Hope and over the mountains of present-day Lesotho.
 
The territory was occupied by the British Empire in 1874 and, shortly before the death of its founder and only leader, Adam Kok III, the small country was incorporated into the neighbouring Cape Colony.
 
Though for a long time overshadowed in history by the story of the Voortrekkers, the trek of the Griquas has been described as ‘one of the great epics of the 19th century’.
 
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 Basuto War - The Gun War, also known as the Basuto War, was an 1880-1881 conflict in the British territory of Basutoland (present-day Lesotho) in Southern Africa, fought between Cape Colony forces and rebellious Basotho chiefs over the right of natives to bear arms. Although officially considered a stalemate, the final settlement favoured the Basotho.
 
Basutoland - home of the Basotho people - had been under the nominal control of the Cape Colony (of the British Empire) since 1871 (it was a British protectorate from 1868 until 1871), but the territory remained essentially autonomous in the early years of colonial rule, with traditional Basotho authorities wielding effective power. Only in the late 1870s did Cape authorities attempt to consolidate power over the region and enforce its laws.
 
Basutoland, an independent state as recently as 1868, chafed under the new restrictions and attempts to reduce the authority of its chiefs. Matters came to a head in 1879, when Governor Henry Bartle Frere reserved part of Basutoland for white settlement and demanded that all natives surrender their firearms to Cape authorities under the 1879 Peace Protection Act.
 
The Cape government of Sir John Gordon Sprigg set April 1880 as the date for surrendering weapons. Although some Basotho with great reluctance were willing to surrender their guns, the majority refused; government attempts to enforce the law brought fighting by September.
 
Within months, most Basotho chiefs were in open rebellion. Colonial Cape forces sent to put down the rebellion suffered heavy casualties, as the Basotho had obtained serviceable firearms from the Orange Free State and enjoyed a natural defensive advantage in their country's mountainous terrain.
 
The rebels relied primarily on guerrilla warfare, ambushing isolated units to negate the British/Cape superiority in firepower. In October, Basotho forces ambushed a mounted column of British Army lancers (1st Regiment, Cape Mounted Yeomanry) at Qalabani near Mafeteng), killing 39. The defeat of an experienced and well-armed cavalry column discouraged Cape authorities.
 
The costs of the war when added to the earlier war with the Xhosa and renewed troubles in the Transkei were dragging the Cape Colony towards bankruptcy. The war was also becoming increasingly unpopular, and the Sprigg government was replaced by the Thomas Scanlen government.
 
A peace treaty was signed with Basotho chiefs in 1881, in which colonial authorities conceded most of the points in dispute. The land remained in Basotho hands and the nation enjoyed unrestricted access to firearms in exchange for a national one-time indemnity of 5000 cattle.
 
However, unrest continued and it quickly became clear that Cape Town could not control the territory. In 1884, the British government returned Basutoland to Crown colony status, granting internal self-government in the process. With effective power once again firmly with the chiefs, the conflict subsided.
 
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.
 
British Bechuanaland - British Bechuanaland was a short lived crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 1 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 Nov 1895
 
Bechuanaland meant the country of the Tswana and for administrative purposes was divided into two political entities. The northern part was administered as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and southern part, south of the Molopo River, was administered as the crown colony of British Bechuanaland.
 
In 1882 British Bechuanaland suffered two secessions by the Boer states of Stellaland and Goshen. For many months, starting in 1883, pressure was placed on the British Government to do something in Bechuanaland because of unrest in the area. On 29 October 1884 the British Government appointed Sir Charles Warren as Special Commissioner of Bechuanaland.
 
On 13 November 1884 Parliament voted a sum of £675,000 (this is equivalent to over £32 million today) for military operations in Bechuanaland. Sir Charles Warren was authorised to recruit an irregular force of 1,500 in South Africa in addition to the regular troops that would be provided.
 
A force of 4,000 troops, under Sir Charles Warren, set off to recapture Stellaland and Goshen. On 7 February 1885 the force reached Vryburg, the principal town in Stellaland, then continued to Mafeking, the principal town in Goshen. By 8 April 1885 Sir Charles Warren sent a despatch to notify the British Government that he had occupied Bechuanaland and had entirely restored order. The two Boer republics had collapsed without any bloodshed.
 
On 30 September 1885 Stellaland, Goshen and other territories to the south of the Molopo River were constituted as the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland. In 1891 the South African Customs Union was extended to British Bechuanaland, and in 1895 the colony was annexed to the Cape Colony and now forms part of South Africa, the area around Mafikeng.
 
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.