A Fine Collection of Medals to War Correspondents x474


The Queen’s South Africa Medal pair awarded to Lord Cecil Manners, War Correspondent for the Morning Post, who was taken prisoner by the Boers near Johannesburg on 30 May 1900


Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Lord Cecil Manners, M.P.) officially engraved naming; Coronation 1902, silver issue, unnamed as issued, nearly very fine (2)


£1,200-£1,600


Lord Cecil Reginald John Manners was born on 4 February 1868, the second son of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, by his second marriage to Janetta, daughter of Thomas Hughan, and half brother of Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland. He was educated at Charterhouse and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Lord Cecil went to South Africa in early 1900 to serve as press correspondent for the Morning Post, the paper that also employed Winston Churchill, and was with General Ian Hamilton’s force when he was captured following a fight with the Boers near Johannesburg on 30 May 1900. The following report of the action, written by General Rundle, appeared in the Morning Post on 1 June 1900:


‘The brunt of the fighting yesterday fell on Ian Hamilton’s column. I had sent him, as already mentioned, to work round to the west of Johannesburg in support of French’s Cavalry, which was directed to go to the north near the road leading to Pretoria. I have not heard from French yet but Hamilton, in a report which has just reached me, states that at about one o’clock in the afternoon he found his way blocked by the enemy strongly posted on some kopjes and ridges three miles south of the Rand. They had two heavy guns, several field guns, and “pom-poms.” Hamilton at once attacked. The right was led by the Gordons, who after capturing one extremity of the ridge, wheeled round and worked along it until after dark, clearing it of the enemy, who fought most obstinately. The City Imperial Volunteers led on the other flank and would not be denied.


But the chief share of the action, as in the casualties, fell to the Gordons, whose gallant advance excited the admiration of all.’


Having been reported as missing on 30 May, Lord Cecil arrived as a prisoner at Pretoria on 1 June and was immediately liberated. Returning to England shortly afterwards, he succeeded his brother as Member of Parliament for Melton in September 1900, holding the seat until 1906. He served as assistant private secretary to the Secretary of State for India and was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Derbyshire in 1902. Lord Cecil Manners died in an accident at Crowborough train station in 1945, aged 77.


Sold together with a small file of copied research and a portrait photograph of the recipient.


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