Queen's Sudan Medal

 

The Sudan Campaign 1896 - 1897.

 

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

 

 

The Queen's Sudan Medal was a British Empire medal presented for service during the Sudan campaign of 1896-97. The medal was instituted in 1899 and was awarded to British and Egyptian forces which took part in what is often described as, 'The Re-conquest Of The Sudan'.

 

Following expansion by countries like Italy, Germany, France and Belgium into other parts of Africa, the British feared that the Sudan could follow. Consequently, rather than let it fall to one of the other emerging powers to invade the Sudan, the British decided to attempt to reoccupy it - hence the term 'The Re-conquest Of The Sudan' rather than 'The Invasion Of  The Sudan'.

 

The previous attempt by British and Egyptian forces to subdue and control these territories had failed after the successful Dervish revolt led by Muhammad Ahmad - The Mahdi - the climax of which was the defeat of General Gordon at the fall of Khartoum.

 

The British public had expressed great resentment for many years that the death of General Gordon had not been avenged, and in part, this campaign corrected that.

 

The campaign began in June 1896, initially conducted with mainly Egyptian troops, but later reinforced with two British brigades - one of which was present at the Battle of Atbara and then both at the Battle of Omdurman which featured a young Lieutenant Winston Churchill.

 

 

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

 

The reverse depicts the winged figure of Victory seated with her arms outstretched holding a palm branch in her left hand and a laurel wreath in her right. In the background are the Royal Standards and below her feet is the inscription; ‘SUDAN’.

 

The ribbon suspender is of the plain, straight and swivelling style.

 

The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim, however, styles of naming varies considerably including those engraved in neat sloping capitals, upright capitals, impressed thin Roman capitals whist some were awarded un-named. Arabic naming is also found on the medals issued to native troops.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and is half yellow and half black in colour with a thin red stripe at the centre.

 

The colours are said to symbolic of the desert (yellow), the Dervish Army, (black) and the thin red line being the British Army.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal, but an unofficial clasp of; ‘DONGOLA’ is known to exist.

 

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 Re-conquest Of The Sudan.

- The Battle Of Atbara.

- The Battle Of Omdurman.

 

The Re-conquest Of The Sudan - In 1892, Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener) became Sirdar, or Commander, of the Egyptian army and started preparations for the re-conquest of Sudan. The British thought they needed to occupy Sudan in part because of international developments.

 

By the early 1890s, British, French, and Belgian claims had converged at the Nile headwaters. Britain feared that the other colonial powers would take advantage of Sudan's instability to acquire territory previously annexed to Egypt. Apart from these political considerations, Britain wanted to establish control over the Nile to safeguard a planned irrigation dam at Aswan.

 

In 1895, the British government authorized Kitchener to launch a campaign to reconquer Sudan. Britain provided men and matériel while Egypt financed the expedition. The Anglo-Egyptian Nile Expeditionary Force included 25,800 men, 8,600 of whom were British.

 

The remainder were troops belonging to Egyptian units that included six battalions recruited in southern Sudan. An armed river flotilla escorted the force, which also had artillery support. In preparation for the attack, the British established an army headquarters at the former rail head Wadi Halfa and extended and reinforced the perimeter defenses around Sawakin. In March of 1896, the campaign started as the Dongola Expedition.

 

Despite taking the time to reconstruct Ishma‘il Pasha's former 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge railway south along the east bank of the Nile, Kitchener captured the former capital of Nubia by September. The next year, the British then constructed a new rail line directly across the desert from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad. (The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, hastily adopted to make use of available rolling stock, meant supplies from the Egyptian network required transshipment via steamer from Asyut to Halfa.

 

The Sudanese system retains the incompatible gauge to this day.) Anglo-Egyptian units fought a sharp action at Abu Hamad, but there was little other significant resistance until Kitchener reached Atbarah and defeated the Ansar. After this engagement, Kitchener's soldiers marched and sailed toward Omdurman, where the Khalifa made his last stand.

 

On 2 September 1898, the Khalifa committed his 52,000-man army to a frontal assault against the Anglo-Egyptian force, which was massed on the plain outside Omdurman. The outcome never was in doubt, largely because of superior British firepower. During the five-hour battle, about 11,000 Mahdists died, whereas Anglo-Egyptian losses amounted to 48 dead and fewer than 400 wounded.

 

Mopping-up operations required several years, but organized resistance ended when the Khalifa, who had escaped to Kurdufan, died in fighting at Umm Diwaykarat in November 1899. Many areas welcomed the downfall of his regime. Sudan's economy had been all but destroyed during his reign and the population had declined by approximately one-half because of famine, disease, persecution, and warfare. Millions had died in Sudan from foundation of the Mahdist state to its fall.

 

Moreover, none of the country's traditional institutions or loyalties remained intact. Tribes had been divided in their attitudes toward Mahdism, religious brotherhoods had been weakened, and orthodox religious leaders had vanished.

 

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 Atbara - The Battle of Atbara took place during the Second Sudan War. Anglo-Egyptian forces defeated 15,000 Sudanese rebels, called Mahdists or Dervishes. The battle proved to be the turning point in the conquest of Sudan by a British and Egyptian coalition.

 

The defeated Emir Mahmud with the British Director of Military Intelligence Francis Wingate after the battle. By 1898, the combined British and Egyptian army was advancing down the Nile river into Sudan.

 

The Sudanese Mahdist leader, the Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad ordered the Emir Mahmud Ahmad and his 10,000 strong army of western Sudan northward towards the junction of the Nile and Atbara rivers to engage the British and Egyptian army led by Herbert Kitchener. Encamping on the banks of the Atbara river by March 20, Mahmud, with Osman Digna's group of Dervish warriors were within 20 miles (32 km) of the British camp outpost at Fort Atbara at the confluence of the Atbara with the Nile.

 

On April 4, after seeing that the Mahdists were unwilling to attack, Kitchener quietly advanced with the British and Egyptian army towards the Mahdist fortified camp just outside the town of Nakheila.

 

The British attack began at 06:20 on April 8, 1898; two brigades, the British Brigade led by William Gatacre, and the Egyptian Brigade led by Archibald Hunter, led the attack. After a brief artillery bombardment of the Mahdist camp, the combined British and Egyptian brigades attacked. Soon, the British and Egyptian troops were in the Mahdist camp, often fighting hand-to-hand with the Mahdist warriors.

 

After 45 minutes, the battle was over as Osman Digna led a few thousand warriors on a retreat to the south, while most of the remainder were killed or captured, including Mahmud who was captured by loyal Sudanese troops of the Egyptian Brigade.

 

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 Omdurman - At the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898), an army commanded by the British General Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. It was a demonstration of the superiority of a highly disciplined European-led army equipped with modern rifles, machine guns and artillery over a vastly larger force armed with older weapons, and marked the success of British efforts to re-conquer the Sudan. However, it was not until the 1899 Battle of Umm Diwaykarat that the final Mahdist forces were defeated.

 

The village of Omdurman was chosen in 1884 as the base of operations by the Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. After his death in 1885, following the successful siege of Khartoum, his successor (Khalifa) Abdullah retained it as his capital.

 

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.