Mr President and gentlemen, when Dennis suggested to me that I speak to you on the subject of medals, I had to decide on what aspect to concentrate. The field is enormous, for literally thousands of medals have been struck to commemorate all sorts of events. I have therefore limited this talk to a few military medals of South African interest, with a few British medals added by way of introduction.
Let us start with a definition - what is a medal? In this context, a medal is an outward and visible symbol of public achievement. It embodies a message to the world that the recipient has done something worthy of note. It may have been in the world of art or science, or for having the fattest pig on the local show. One great area is the military. Warfare has played a prominent part in the story of the human race and bravery has always been admired. Defence of their native land and community has always been one of the first responsibilities of men capable of bearing arms, and this is as true today as when men first banded together for mutual support.
One may be interested in medals as works of art. Many of them are the result of exquisite workmanship, and others are relatively crude. This has been the tendency in modern times when campaign medals have been struck literally by the million. For me the interest lies in the fact that each medal was issued to a man or woman who took part in historical events. It is a link with our past. And once you start delving into that past, it becomes more and more absorbing.
The history of medals as we know them today does not go back more than about 400 years. Decorations for individual achievement were awarded in the days of the early Greeks, but they were often no more than laurel wreaths for the greatest athletes. Such was the honour that even today, more than 2000 years later, the wreath is still often seen as a symbol of excellence. The Greeks also presented more enduring tokens, for Alexander the Great awarded gold buttons to his successful commanders.
To come to modern times, military personnel of the colonial and dominion territories of the British Empire were always eligible for British military medals and decorations, on the same basis as citizens of the United Kingdom. Such territories could also institute medals of their own. As this pattern was followed in South Africa perhaps we should start with a short resume of British practice.
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth the first commemorated the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the issue to her admirals of medals in gold and silver. These were probably worn on a chain around the neck and the recipients wore them as a sign of respect to their Queen. This may well have been the origin of the custom of wearing medals presented by the Sovereign for war service. Fifty years later King Charles the First established the first medals for the land forces. These were apparently awarded only for very distinguished conduct in the field. They were of silver, and were oval in shape. The first general campaign medal, awarded to rank and file as well as to officers, was the Dunbar Medal. This was awarded for service at the Battle of Dunbar, where Cromwell's Roundheads defeated the Scottish Royalists in 1650. Not until after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 was another official medal struck which was issued to the commander in chief and the humblest drummer boy alike. Many other medals were struck between these times to commemorate specific battles, but these were issued only to officers. On a humbler level was a pewter medal which a patriotic Englishman had made to show his appreciation to the seamen who were at the Battle of Trafalgar, but so little did the Jack tars think of it that many threw them overboard.
As is so often the case, private enterprise moved more quickly than officialdom, and the Honourable East India Company was no exception. The company had a number of medals made for service in the wars fought by its army. These were in silver for officers, bronze for non-commissioned officers and tin for privates. They even made gold replicas for presentation to royalty.
The Waterloo medal was thus the second official general award, given to every man present at that battle. The names and regiments of the recipients were indented in large capital letters on the edge of the medal. This established the custom. It is a strange fact that the General Service Medal for all the other campaigns of the Napoleonic wars was not issued until 1847, and then only in spite of the objections of the great Duke of Wellington himself. He had apparently forgotten the thousands of officers and men who had won his battles for him. At the same time the Naval General Service Medal was instituted, and this can be taken as the beginning of the campaign medal as we knew it until World War Two. A new feature was the issuing of bars with these general service medals. This was done because the Napoleonic wars were fought all over the world. There were 28 military and no less than 230 naval bars. Of the latter sometimes only one or two were issued, for by the time the medal became available in 1847, there were few survivors to submit their claims.
We now come to South Africa.
The first military service medal awarded for campaigns in South Africa bears the date 1853. For once there was no delay, for it was authorised by the British government in the following year. It was issued to all survivors of the British regular forces who took part in the wars on the eastern frontier between 1834 and 1853, that is, the 6th, 7th and 8th Kaffir Wars. There had, of course, been intermittent fighting on the frontier ever since 1779. For the boer commando there were no awards - just hardship, for commissariat and medical arrangements were primitive. Men whose horses died were left to find their own way home on foot. It is no wonder that many refused to serve again after such treatment, and from 1806, that is, the second British occupation, regular British units bore the brunt of the action. Experience soon taught them the advantages of a less rigid style of fighting than the parade ground manoeuvres they were used to, and they adapted their tactics to meet the problem of dealing with highly mobile opponents in thick bush country.
A regiment which specialised in this kind of warfare was the Cape Mounted Rifles. Despite its name this was an Imperial regiment, officered by British regulars, with Cape Coloured or hottentot soldiers. Because of mutinous conduct no more coloured troops were enlisted after 1850, and the regiment was disbanded in 1870.
The rights and wrongs of the nine Kaffir wars are a matter of debate. What matters is that they went on for nearly a century, and caused much loss of life and property. The last of these struggles ended in 1878, and for this and the Zulu War of the following year, which is remembered chiefly for Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, the same medal was issued. The date 1853 was replaced with a Zulu shield and crossed assegais. There were six bars to this medal, and it was awarded to Colonial forces, European and black, as well as to the British regulars. This was the first medal to be so issued in South Africa.
In passing I would like to mention the Sir Harry Smith medal, even though it was neither official nor strictly speaking a campaign medal. The eighth Kaffir war broke out at the end of 1850, and for a time matters looked very serious. Sir Harry, by that time governor of the Cape, decided to take charge of operations himself.
In six days he rode from Cape Town to Grahamstown. That was no mean feat for a middle-aged man, especially as roads were practically non-existent for much of the way. He spent one night here at George, and was somewhat irritated by the attentions of the local worthies, who had heard he was coming and were determined to make the most of the occasion. After arriving in the Eastern Cape and organising the defence of Grahamstown he went to a small outpost named Fort Cox, which was soon hemmed in by tribesmen. Sir Harry decided to risk running the gauntlet to Kingwilliamstown, and with an escort of 30 Cape Mounted Riflemen he made his escape. Had he fallen into the hands of the enemy he would have received short shrift. The following year he had a medal struck at Cape Town. It carried the inscription PRESENTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY SIR H.G. SMITH, BART., FOR GALLANTRY IN THE FIELD. As it was presented to only the 30 men of his escort it is extremely rare. It was typical of Sir Harry to strike a medal without the authorisation of the powers that be, and he must have been severely reprimanded, for he never mentioned it in his autobiography.
Our next campaign medal is the Cape of Good Hope medal. This is of particular interest because it was the first medal to be issued by a South African authority. It was awarded to South African units only. As such it is a milestone in our history, for it marks the end of dependence on the British army for local defence.
In 1880 the Cape authorities became alarmed at the number of guns finding their way into Basutoland. A small detachment of the Cape Mounted Rifles was sent to disarm the Basutos. Instead of being overawed, the Basutos attacked the C.M.R. and soon had the detachment bottled up in Maseru and Mafeteng. When the Cape Government realised that the Basutos were not going to submit tamely, volunteer units were called up and sent to help. The war dragged on for some time, but the Basuto were never wholly subdued.
At the same time there was an uprising in the Eastern Province, but here the Cape forces were more successful and order was soon restored. Fifteen years later there were more disorders in the arid region south east of Kuruman, where rinderpest had broken out. The Bechuanas could not see the logic of shooting their cattle to save their lives, and again a small detachment of the C.M.R. found they had bitten off more than they could chew. A small army, known as the Bechuanaland Field Force, and consisting of about 2300 volunteers, was collected and sent north. After some minor reverses and much marching among the inhospitable mountains of the region, the army succeeded in capturing or killing the ringleaders.
The medal issued for these three campaigns is fairly scarce. Like the 1853 medal, it is of silver, with the head of Queen Victoria on the obverse and the arms of the Cape Colony on the reverse. There are three bars - Transkei, Basutoland, and Bechuanaland. Only 22 men qualified for all three. Finding such a medal, properly authenticated from the medal roll, would be a great event in any collector's life.
Although there were no campaigns to justify its making, our next medal is historically interesting. It is the Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps Medalje. In 1894 the Transvaal Volksraad sanctioned the raising of volunteer units to assist the authorities in preserving order and defending the Republic.. A Johannesburg law agent, Mr S.H. van Diggelen, arranged a meeting at his office, and it was decided to raise such a unit, to be known as the Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps. This was to consist of two battalions of infantry, cavalry, a field telegraph and an ambulance.
There was a government subsidy, and arms and uniforms were provided. Despite restrictions on membership, there was an unruly element who were apt to partake of refreshment while still in uniform after parades. They were gradually weeded out and the unit grew in stature and public esteem. It never took part in any wars, but some members escorted Jameson and others to the Pretoria goal, and in 1898 a detachment was sent to Swaziland, where there had been some unrest. Shortly after this the Volksraad withdrew its official sanction and the unit was disbanded.
We now come to the major event in South Africa's military history - the second Anglo-Boer War. The first was fought in 1881, and for this no medals were struck, for the Boer government had not adopted the custom and the British army does not commemorate its defeats. The second started in 1899, and followed the pattern familiar to students of British history - initial disasters caused by lack of preparation, slow recovery, and final success. The literature is endless, and new books are still appearing. For this war, the greatest in its history up to that time, the British government struck three medals - the Queen's, the King's and the Transport. There are 26 bars to the Queen's, each marking a theatre of war or a successful engagement. As originally struck the medal bore the dates 1899-1900 in raised figures, and some were actually issued to a Canadian unit which went home in 1900. When it was realised that there was to be no quick ending to the war, the dates were removed from the unissued medals. There was also a second striking, almost identical, without the dates, and most South Africans who served received this. The maximum number of bars issued was nine, and this is very rare.
Some old soldiers added extra bars to their medals, but these can usually be detected fairly easily by the practised eye. Some bars, like that for the defence of Mafeking, are rare, and are much valued by collectors. A noteworthy fact is that this was the first campaign medal to be issued to nurses. There was a bronze version for authorised camp followers. All who were serving on or after the first of January 1902 and who completed 18 months service by the first of June 1902 were awarded the King's medal. This was never issued without the Queen's.
There were several unofficial medals as well. One is the Kimberley Star, struck on the instructions of the Mayor for the garrison who defended that town. Another was struck in bronze by the Cape Copper Company and presented to the officers and men who defended the mining town of O'Okiep when it was invested in 1902 by General Smuts and his commando. This is rare, especially the silver version which was issued to certain officers.
For the Boers who took part - but not the joiners and handsoppers - the Union Government struck the Anglo-Boere Oorlog Medalje. This was not issued until 1920. It is unusual in that is has no obverse and reverse.
One side bears the arms of the Transvaal Republic and the other those of the Orange Free State. The inscription Anglo-Boere Oorlog 1899-1902 appears round the circumference on both sides. There was also a decoration, Die Decoratie vir Trouwe Diens. This was awarded to officers who distinguished themselves.
There was peace and quiet for a few years as the country struggled to recover, but in 1906 there was more trouble in Natal. The imposition of a poll tax on the Zulus was the immediate cause. For six months police and militia hunted the rebels in the thick bush of the rugged Natal country, and heavy casualties were suffered by the Zulus. This was the second time that a South African colony had put down an uprising without British assistance.
The Natal Government had a medal struck in 1907 and awarded it to all who served for not less than twenty days. A bar with the date 1906 was awarded to all who served for fifty days or more. This is one of the most attractive medals ever struck. The reverse shows the allegorical figures of Natalia and Britannia, with the rising sun shining through dispersing storm clouds. Nearly ten thousand were struck, but many were melted down because of the quality of the silver, and the medal is comparatively rare.
During the First World War South Africans served in many theatres and more than twelve thousand were killed. They cleared German South West Africa, played a large part in East Africa, fought in Egypt and Palestine, and finally in France and Belgium. Twice the South African brigade averted disaster on the Western Front when the British line was crumbling. We have all heard of Delville Wood, but the South Africans played an even more vital part at Marriers Wood during the great German offensive of March 1918. As John Buchan said, the South Africans had few equals and no superiors. It is noteworthy that when hostilities ended they were further east than any other unit of the British armies in France. The British Government issued few campaign medals for this war. South Africans qualified for the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal. The South African version of the latter was bilingual.
The Second World War again saw South Africans serving all over the globe and qualifying for British campaign medals. These were struck in South Africa, using master dies made in the United Kingdom. They consisted of eight stars for the various major theatres plus the Defence Medal and the War Medal. In addition South Africa struck the Africa Service Medal, somewhat irreverently known as Ouma's Garter, for thirty days service, and the South African Medal for War Services. This was issued to members of voluntary organisations such as Civilian Protective Services. South African medals were issued named. The amount of record-keeping involved was immense, for nearly three hundred and fifty thousand men and women volunteered for service.
Medal collecting is a fascinating hobby. It can lead you to historical research in various fields. You can go on battlefield tours or explore on your own. You can join a society where you will meet well-informed enthusiasts. There is a vast array of medals to be collected. South Africa alone has 135, if you include long service and Distinguished Conduct medals awarded to the police, the prisons service, the National Intelligence Service and so on.
The collector can specialise in specific wars or specific units. He can start a family collection and discover surprising things about his relatives. You never know where medal collecting will take you. You may even find yourself talking to a Rotary Club. Page 5 of 5
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