Queen’s South Africa Medal

 

The Second Boer War 1899 - 1902.

 

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

 

 

The Queen's South Africa Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during the Second Boer War. The medal was instituted in 1899 and was awarded to military personnel who served in South Africa between 11 October 1899 and 31 May 1902.

 

It was awarded to units from the British Army, Royal Navy and colonial forces which took part (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India and South Africa). Additionally, the medal was also awarded to civilians employed in official capacity as well as war correspondents.

 

The Queen's South Africa Medal (without a clasp) was also awarded to troops who guarded Boer prisoners of war at the POW camp on the island of St. Helena.

 

Troops who guarded POW's on the Mediterranean islands were awarded the Queen's Mediterranean Medal, and some personnel on troopships were awarded the Transport Medal.

 

The Queen's South Africa Medal was the medal issued to all who served in South Africa up to the end of the war in May 1902.

 

This included those such as the New Zealand 10th Contingent who arrived in Durban in May 1902, and did not fight.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in either silver or bronze. The obverse of this medal has the crowned bust of Queen Victoria with the inscription; 'VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX'.

 

There are three reverses for this medal with minor differences. All have the figure of Britannia facing right with her right hand stretched out holding a wreath. Behind her is a shield bearing the Union Flag and in the background can be seen both the ships of the Royal Navy and soldiers marching to battle while above is the inscription; 'SOUTH AFRICA'. 

 

The first version had the dates; 1899-1900 on the reverse above Britannia's arm with the wreath in her hand pointing to the 'R' of 'AFRICA'. This is because originally it was thought the war was over in 1900 and so the dates; 1899-1900 where cut as part of the die.

 

It was soon realised that the war was to drag on so the dates were erased from the dies but very faint 'ghost' dates of 1899-1900 could be seen on the medals struck for the second version.

 

The reverse was later completely re-cut for the third version with the dates omitted with the wreath now pointing to the 'F' of 'AFRICA' since Britannia's arm had been slightly elevated to help fill the gap made from the removal of the dates.

 

Bronze medals were issued to non-enlisted personnel (including Indians), though some silver medals were issued to native troops.

 

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. Various types of naming are used for this widely issued medal including both engraved and impressed styles.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and has a wide orange stripe at the centre with a red and narrow black stripe along either edge.

 

 

This medal was issued with the following clasps:-

 

 

NB: There are twenty-six different clasps authorised to be added to the medal indicating each action and campaign of the Second Boer War.

 

A 'state' clasp was issued for service within that state when no 'battle' clasp was issued to the recipient for a specific action within the same state.

 

This meant a Queen's South Africa Medal could not carry both a 'state' clasp and a 'battle' clasp for actions within the same state.

 

Recipients could not get both the 'Defence' and 'Relief' clasps for Mafeking, Kimberley or Ladysmith.

 

The 'Rhodesia' clasp was not issued with the 'Relief of Mafeking' clasp, nor were the 'Cape Colony' and 'Natal' clasps issued together (although there is a notable exception to this who was Private. Wingell, a Royal Marine who was attached to the Army).

 

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.

 

** The individual medal value will vary considerably based on the recipient’s details.

 

*** Due to the large number of clasps available for this medal, the value for medals which contains certain clasps will vary considerably.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Second Boer War.

- The Siege Of Mafeking.

- The Siege Of Kimberley.

- The Battle Of Talana Hill.

- The Battle Of Elandslaagte.

- The Siege Of Ladysmith.

- The Battle Of Belmont.

- The Battle Of Modder River.

- The Relief Of Ladysmith.

- The Battle Of Tugela.

- The Relief Of Kimberley.

- The Battle Of Paardeberg.

- The March From Popular Grove.

- The Defence Of Wepener.

- The Relief Of Mafeking.

- The Occupation Of Johannesburg.

- The Battle Of Bergendal.

- Laing's Neck.

 

The Second Boer War - The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State.

 

It ended with a British victory and the annexation of both republics by the British Empire; both would eventually be incorporated into the Union of South Africa, a dominion of the British Empire, in 1910.

 

The conflict is commonly referred to as The Boer War but is also known as the South African War outside South Africa, the Anglo-Boer War among most South Africans, and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog (Second War of Liberation or Second Freedom War) or the Engelse oorlog (English War).

 

The Second Boer War and the earlier, much less well known, First Boer War (December 1880 to March 1881) are collectively known as the Boer Wars.

 

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 Siege Of Mafeking - The Siege of Mafeking was the most famous British action in the Second Boer War. It took place at the town of Mahikeng (called Mafeking by the British) in South Africa over a period of 217 days, from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to found the Scouting Movement, into a national hero.

 

The Relief of Mafeking (the lifting of the siege) was a decisive victory for the British and a crushing defeat for the Boers.

 

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 Siege Of Kimberley - The Siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town.

 

The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the British enclave when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899. The town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken.

 

Cecil Rhodes, who had made his fortune in the town, and who controlled all the mining activities, moved into the town at the onset of the siege. His presence was controversial, as his involvement in the Jameson Raid made him one of the primary protagonists behind war breaking out. Rhodes was constantly at loggerheads with the military, but he was nonetheless instrumental in organising the defence of the town.

 

The Boers shelled the town with their superior artillery in an attempt to force the garrison to capitulate. Engineers of the De Beers company manufactured a one-off gun named Long Cecil, however the Boers soon countered with a much larger siege gun that terrified the residents, forcing many to take shelter in the Kimberley Mine.

 

The British military had to change its strategy for the war as public opinion demanded that the sieges of Kimberley, Ladysmith and Mafeking be relieved before the Boer capitals were assaulted. The first attempt at relief of Kimberley under Lord Methuen was stopped at the battles of Modder River and Magersfontein.

 

The 124-day siege was finally relieved on 15 February 1900 by a cavalry division under Lieutenant-General John French, part of a larger force under Lord Roberts. The battle against the Boer general Piet Cronjé continued at Paardeberg immediately after the town itself was relieved.

 

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 Battle Of Talana Hill - The Battle of Talana Hill, also known as the Battle of Glencoe, was the first major clash of the Second Boer War.

 

A frontal attack by British infantry supported by artillery drove Boers from a hilltop position, but the British suffered heavy casualties in the process, including their commanding general Sir William Penn Symons.

 

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 Battle Of Elandslaagte - The Battle of Elandslaagte was a battle of the Second Boer War, and one of the few clear-cut tactical victories won by the British during that conflict.

 

However, the British force retreated afterwards, throwing away their advantage.

 

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 Siege Of Ladysmith - The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal.

 

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 Battle Of Belmont - The Battle of Belmont is the name of an engagement of the Second Boer War on 23 November 1899, where the British under Lord Methuen assaulted a Boer position on Belmont kopje.

 

Methuen's three brigades were on their way to raise the Boer siege of Kimberley. A Boer force of about 2,000 men had entrenched on the range of Belmont kopje to delay their advance.

 

Methuen sent the Guards Brigade on a night march to outflank the Boers, but due to faulty maps the Grenadier Guards found themselves in front of the Boer position instead.

 

The Guards, the 9th Brigade and the Naval Brigade assaulted the Boers over open ground, suffering about 200 casualties.

 

Before the British came to use their bayonets, the Boers retreated by pony and re-formed in another entrenched position at Graspan, where the pattern was repeated with the British suffering another 197 casualties: one sailor reporting that '…at 200 yards we fixed bayonets, and we just saw their heels; they didn't wait when they heard the rattle'.

 

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 Battle Of Modder River - The Battle of Modder River (known in Afrikaans as Slag van die Twee Riviere, which translates as 'Battle of the two rivers') was an engagement in the Boer War, fought at Modder River, on 28 November 1899.

 

A British column under Lord Methuen, that was attempting to relieve the besieged town of Kimberley, forced Boers under General Piet Cronje to retreat to Magersfontein, but suffered heavy casualties themselves.

 

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 Relief Of Ladysmith - When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported thousands of troops both from the United Kingdom itself and from elsewhere in the Empire and by the time the siege of Ladysmith had been lifted, had a huge numeric superiority.

 

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 Battle Of Tugela - The Battle of Tugela (or Thukela) Heights, consisted of a series of military actions lasting from 14 February through 27 February 1900 in which General Sir Redvers Buller's British army forced Louis Botha's Boer army to lift the Siege of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.

 

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 Relief Of Kimberley - The 124-day siege was finally relieved on 15 February 1900 by a cavalry division under Lieutenant-General John French, part of a larger force under Lord Roberts. The battle against the Boer general Piet Cronjé continued at Paardeberg immediately after the town itself was relieved.

 

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 Battle Of Paardeberg - The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg ('Horse Mountain') was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley.

 

Lord Methuen advanced up the railway line in November 1899 with the objective of relieving the besieged city of Kimberley (and the town of Mafeking, also under siege).

 

Battles were fought on this front at Graspan, Belmont, Modder River before the advance was halted for two months after the British defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein. In February 1900, Field Marshal Lord Roberts assumed personal command of a significantly reinforced British offensive.

 

The army of Boer General Piet Cronjé was retreating from its entrenched position at Magersfontein towards Bloemfontein after its lines of communication were cut by Major General John French, whose cavalry had recently outflanked the Boer position to relieve Kimberley.

 

Cronje's slow-moving column was intercepted by French at Paardeberg, where the Boer general eventually surrendered after a prolonged siege, having fought off an attempted direct assault by Lieutenant General Horatio Kitchener.

 

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 March From Popular Grove - Lord Kitchener ordered Lt. General John French (10 February) that 'The cavalry must relieve Kimberley at all costs…If it fails neither I nor the Field Marshal can tell what the effect on the Empire may be'.

 

French promised Roberts (10 February) that if he were still alive he would be in Kimberley, where the civilian population was urging Colonel Kekewich to surrender, in five days.

 

French’s Cavalry Division consisted of three cavalry brigades and two brigades of mounted infantry, although the latter did not accompany them when they broke camp at 3am on 11 March – a separate provisional brigade of mounted infantry was provided instead.

 

Roberts gave an inspirational speech to French’s brigade and regimental commanders. Rather than cross the Modder River directly (Kimberley lay around 25 miles north-east), they made an envelopment move: first over 20 miles south to Ramdam, then about 15 miles east to seize the Riet River Crossings, then about 25 miles (roughly north-north-east) to Klip Drift on the Modder, then another 20 miles north-west to Kimberley.

 

This was to be accomplished across arid land in five days, with much of the travel by moonlight as it was the middle of summer. French carried only six days’ rations for the men and five days’ forage for the horses.

 

The force left Ramdam at 2am on 12 February, with only 4,000 horsemen rather than the 8,000 he had expected to have, but French felt he had to push on rather than wait for straggling units to catch up (the brigades’ staffs were all new, and brigadiers only joined their units in the course of the march).

 

De Kiel’s Drift on the Riet was seized by mid afternoon – French ordered his cavalry to gallop for it as soon as he saw the way was clear – but the crossing was soon in what Haig called '…an indescribable state of confusion…' as Roberts had neglected to order priority for Cavalry Division baggage. Kitchener, arriving in the evening, ordered French to seize Waterval Drift, another crossing a few miles to the northwest where he had left a brigade masking a small Boer force under de Wet.

 

Although this was done, the advance could not be resumed until 10.30am - with the sun high in the sky - on 13 February, and accompanied by five baggage wagons which had managed to get through the logjam at De Kiel’s Drift

 

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 Defence Of Wepener - During the Anglo-Boer War, a British garrison of 2000 men under Colonel E. H. Dalgety was besieged by the Boer commandos under the command of General Christiaan de Wet at Jammersdrift on the Caledon River.

 

The siege lasted 17 days, until reinforcements arrived on April 25, 1900 to end the battle in favour of the British.

 

The district of Wepener was the scene of many battles, raids and skirmishes during the 19th century. Many graves, mostly without identification, still exist as reminders of the events in the valley of Jammerbergspruit during this stormy period.

 

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 Relief Of Mafeking - The siege of Mafeking was finally lifted on 17 May 1900, when British forces commanded by Colonel B T Mahon of the army of Lord Roberts relieved the town after fighting their way in. Among the relief forces was one of Baden-Powell's brothers, Major Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden-Powell.

 

Until reinforcements landed in February 1900, the war was going poorly for the British. The resistance to the siege was one of the positive highlights, and it and the eventual relief of the town excited the liveliest sympathy in Britain.

 

There were immense celebrations in the country at the news of its relief (creating the verb to maffick, meaning to celebrate both extravagantly and publicly). 'Maffick' was a back-formation from Mafeking, a place-name that was treated humorously as a gerund or participle.

 

Promoted to the youngest major-general in the army, and awarded the CB, Baden-Powell was also treated as a hero when he finally returned to Britain in 1903.

 

Three Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of acts of heroism during the siege, to Sergeant Horace Martineau and Trooper Horace Ramsden for acts during an attack on the Boer Game Tree Fort, and to Captain Charles FitzClarence for Game Tree and two previous actions.

 

In September 1904 Lord Roberts unveiled an obelisk at Mafeking bearing the names of those who fell in defence of the town.

 

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 Occupation Of Johannesburg - Towards the end of the 2nd Boar War, British forces under Lord Roberts occupy the city on 30 May 1900 after a series of battles to the south of its then-limits.

 

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 Battle Of Diamond Hill - The Battle of Diamond Hill (Donkerhoek) took place on 11 and 12 June 1900 during the Second Boer War. Fourteen thousand British soldiers squared up against four thousand Boers and forced them from their positions on the hill.

 

Forty-four years after the battle, British General Ian Hamilton opined in his memoirs that 'the battle, which ensured that the Boers could not recapture Pretoria, was the turning point of the war'.

 

Hamilton credited Winston Churchill with recognizing that the key to victory would be in storming the summit, and risking his life to signal Hamilton.

 

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 Battle Of Bergendal - The Battle of Bergendal (also known as the Battle of Belfast[citation needed] or Battle of Dalmanutha was the last set-piece battle of the Second Anglo-Boer War.

 

It lasted from 21-27 August 1900 and took place on the farm Bergendal (Hill and Dale) near the town of Belfast. The 5,000 Boers were under the command of General Louis Botha and the 20,000 British Empire forces were led by General Sir Redvers Buller under the overall command of Lord Roberts.

 

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.

 

Laing's Neck - Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg, South Africa, immediately north of Majuba, at an elevation of 5400 to 6,000 ft (1,800 m).

 

It is the lowest part of a ridge which slopes from Majuba to the Buffalo River, and before the opening of the railway in 1891 the road over the nek was the main artery of communication between Durban and Pretoria. The railway crosses the pass via a 2,213 ft (675 m). long tunnel.

 

When the Boers rose in revolt in December 1880 they occupied Laing's Nek to oppose the entry of British reinforcements into the Transvaal. On 28 January 1881 a small British force endeavoured to drive the Boers from the pass, but was forced to retire after the Battle of Laing's Nek.

 

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.