Imperial British East Africa Company’s Medal

 

The Colonial Wars In Africa 1888 - 1895.

 

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

 

 

The Imperial British East Africa Company’s Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service in East-Africa in areas that came under the jurisdiction of the company between the years 1888 and 1895. The medal was instituted in 1890 and was awarded for service either against the Sultan of Witu between 1887 - 1900, or, during the Uganda Religious Wars 1891-2.

 

The Imperial British East Africa Company was the administrator of British East Africa, which was the forerunner of the East Africa Protectorate, later Kenya, it was formed in September 1888 and ceased trading in October 1895.

 

 

The medal is circular, 40mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the arms of the Imperial British East Africa Company with the inscription; ‘LIGHT AND LIBERTY’, the company motto below along with the Arabic inscription meaning; ‘THE REWARD OF BRAVERY’.

 

Above this, is the inscription; ‘THE IMPERIAL BRITISH EAST AFRICA COMPANY’.

 

The reverse is plain except for a wreath of lotus flowers.

 

The ribbon suspender is of the swivelling ornate scroll style, attached to the medal by a claw mount, although a number were issued with a ring attachment.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and is plain blue in colour.

 

 

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 Imperial British East Africa Company.

 

The Imperial British East Africa Company - The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was the administrator of British East Africa, which was the forerunner of the East Africa Protectorate, later Kenya.

 

The IBEAC was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British colonial power. Created after the Berlin Treaty of 1885, it was led by William Mackinnon and built upon his company's trading activities in the region, with the encouragement of the British government through the granting of an imperial charter - although it remained unclear what this actually meant. It granted immunity of prosecution to British subjects whilst allowing them the right to raise taxes, impose custom duties, administer justice, make treaties and otherwise act as the government of the area.

 

Mombasa and its harbour were central to its operations, with an administrative office about 50 miles (80 km) south in Shimoni. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888, and granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria on 6 September 1888.

 

The IBEAC oversaw an area of about 246,800 square miles (639,000 km2) along the eastern coast of Africa, its centre being at about 39° East longitude and 0° latitude, and from 1890 also administered Uganda. The administration of British East Africa was transferred to the Foreign Office on 1 July 1895, and in 1896 so was control of Uganda.

 

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.