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Mint:
London
Artist:
Wyon, Leonard Charles
Artist:
Wyon, William
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
Ruler:
Victoria regina
(With the title of)
The history of the British presence in South Africa is inextricably bound up with that of the Basuto and Zulu tribes whom it displaced. A series of shaky and short-lived accommodations with the various polities that made up the African kingdoms meant that the borders between the zones were never entirely free from conflict. Between 1877 and 1879 a number of particularly difficult punitive expeditions were mounted by the British authorities, and in 1880 a medal was sanctioned for these that was a new issue of that for the campaigns of 1834-1853 with a slightly modified reverse design.
Particularly demanding were the attacks of the Galeka and Gaika tribes on a protected people, the Fingos. The campaigns against the insurgent peoples lasted some eight months from 1878 into 1879 and involved, as well as extensive local forces, contingents of both the British Army and the Royal Navy serving ashore. The conflict, which became known as the Ninth Kaffir War, ended in the annexation of the Transkei, home of the Galeka peoples, to the Cape Colony.
With this settled the attention of those forces not embroiled in the developing conflict with the Zulus was turned to a Basuto tribe in the Transvaal the Bapedi of Chief Sekukuni, whose raids from a supposedly impregnable fortress had now begun to affect tribes under British protection. An initial sally against him in late 1878 having proved ineffective, a larger force was sent in November 1879 and quickly overran the fortress. The defenders were killed almost to a man, largely by African soldiery.
This medal was awarded to Private F. Bird of the 80th Foot, who seems to have joined the war against the Zulus once the Galekas and Gaikis were temporarily pacified. Lester Watson purchased his medal from the London dealers Spink at some point before 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Spink before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.4 mm
Weight: 39.88 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
1880 - 1881
Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left
Inscription present: Lion couchant before protea bush; Zulu shield on four crossed assegais in exergue
Accession number: CM.1438-2009
Primary reference Number: 141532
Watson Catalogue: 350
Ordering: M-0321
Previous object number: LW.0321
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "South Africa General Service Medal" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141532 Accessed: 2024-11-21 19:59:40
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141532
|title=South Africa General Service Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 19:59:40|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-141532
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0321_281_29.jpg"
alt="South Africa General Service Medal"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">South Africa General Service Medal</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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