Single Campaign Medals 499
East and West Africa 1887-1900, 2 clasps, 1892, 1893-94 (64. Pte. J. Wainwright. 1/W.I. Rgt.) some scratching in obverse field and staining to reverse, otherwise better than good fine
£200-£260 500
East and West Africa 1887-1900, 2 clasps, Benin River 1894, Brass River 1895 (G. E. Lewis, Chf. Sto., H.M.S. Widgeon.) contact marks, nearly very fine
£400-£500
George Edwin Lewis was born in Gloucester on 31 August 1857, and entered the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 27 April 1878. He advanced to Stoker in June 1879, becoming Leading Stoker in October 1884, Acting Chief Stoker in June 1893, and Chief Stoker in July 1894. He received a L.S. & G.C. medal on 30 July 1890, whilst serving in Speedwell, and was aboard Widgeon from September 1893 to March 1896, including the Benin River and Brass River operations of 1894 and 1895 respectively. He was shore pensioned on 6 May 1898. Sold with copied record of service and medal roll extract.
501
An extremely rare ‘Pioneer’s’ British South Africa Company’s 1890-97 Medal awarded to Trooper C. G. MacPherson, Victoria Column, late British South Africa Company’s Police
British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse undated, 2 clasps, Mashonaland 1890, Matabeleland 1893 (Tpr. C. G. MacPherson, B.S.A.C.P.) a few light marks, otherwise nearly extremely fine
£2,800-£3,200 Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2009 and May 2017. Only 11 medals issued with these two clasps. Just 30 Matabeleland 1893 clasps were issued in total.
Charles Glenely MacPherson was born in the Straits Settlements in 1861, the son of Ronald MacPherson, then the First Colonial Secretary but previously a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Madras Artillery and a veteran of the First Opium War (see Dix Noonan Webb, December 2008, Lot 270, for his China 1840-42 Medal). Charles was the youngest of nine children.
In 1885, he joined the Bechuanaland Border Police before entering Mashonaland as a Trooper in Captain E. C. Chamley-Turner’s ‘D’ Troop, British South Africa Company’s Police, in the 1890 Pioneer Column. During this time he is described in Hickman’s Men Who Made Rhodesia as a ‘remittance man’. He afterwards served in the Matabele Rebellion as a Troop Sergeant-Major in the Victoria Column, when he was present in the actions of Shangani on 25 October and Imbembesi on 1 November 1893.
Official records also confirm that he enrolled in the Natal Police in November 1898, in which capacity he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for ‘South Africa 1901’ and ‘South Africa 1902’, and the Natal Medal with clasp for the rebellion in 1906, latterly as an N.C.O.; accompanying research also indicates possible service in the Great War.
In March 1930, MacPherson contacted the authorities to obtain the necessary paperwork to claim ‘the ‘93 Matabele Rebellion Medal’, on account of him having lost his original award ‘during my campaigning’ - to which fact he added, on completing the relevant application form, ‘lost at sea on the Guildford Castle when she was torpedoed’. And to support his claim of active service, he stated in his covering letter that he thought Captain Nesbitt, V.C., would remember him - ‘We met at Fort Victoria about the time Lord Randolph Churchill was out there’. MacPherson duly signed for the safe receipt of his award on 15 August 1930, but now explained that he could not return his original award since he had left it ‘with some people in Johannesburg’ when he joined up in the Great War - ‘I am trying to trace them now as they have five medals and trunk of personal belongings of mine. Directly I get in touch with them I will get the medal and return it to you.’
MacPherson settled in Durban, where he died in November 1937, aged 76 years, leaving a wife, Annie, and a daughter Sheila Mary MacPherson, his first wife, Harriett Mary, having pre-deceased him just prior to the Boer War; sold with original letter from the Department of Defence, Salisbury, dated 24 March 1930 [laminated], inviting the recipient to claim the above described Medal & clasps, together with a good quantity of research, including details from the National Archives of Zimbabwe.
www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236
