IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141301 accession number: CM.1207-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 15 January 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: Peace-keeping operations in the British possessions in Africa, as anywhere else, required a large number of small campaigns, several of which, from 1892 until 1900, were considered to merit this medal, which in terms of design is a continuation of the Ashantee War Medal. Recipients who held that medal already were therefore awarded only extra clasps. Witu was a small state in what is now Kenya. Established in 1858 as a colony of the Sultanate of Patu, in 1885 it became the German Protectorate of Wituland by an arrangement in which the German Tana Company protected the state from the political threat of Zanzibar. In 1890 the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty saw the Protectorate ceded to British East Africa. In 1891, however, a new Sultan, Fumo Umar ibn Ahmad, succeeded, and his actions were considered less than helpful by the British. As a result, a small punitive expedition was sent in 1893, which landed at the island town of Lamu in the Sultan's home state of Pate (now also in Kenya). As a result Fumo Umar was briefly deposed, but returned to the throne in 1895. This medal was awarded to Shipwright F. Stephens, who served in HMS Blanche, one of the three vessels from which the expedition was landed. Lester Watson purchased the medal from the London dealers Spink at some point before 1928. title: East and West Africa Medal (1887-1900) NOTES ----- type: history note value: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Spink before 1928 LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Coins and Medals collection: Lester Watson Collection creditline: Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141301 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1893 - 1900 creation date earliest: 1893 creation date latest: 1900 CREATORS -------- maker: London maker: Wyon, Leonard Charles maker: Poynter, Edward John maker: Victoria (1837-1901) maker: Victoria regina DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 36.3 dimension: Weight units: g value: 38.56 EXHIBITIONS HISTORY ------------------- title: Images of Empire: The British Empire on 19th century medals CITATIONS -------- British Battles and Medals 7th edn British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals From the Collection of Lester Watson (d. 1959) --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 145 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 145 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 145 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 145 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 143 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 143 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 143 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0090_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 143 pixels