INDIA 1895 MEDAL FOR THREE CAMPAIGNS.
MAYOR'S STAR FOR DEFENCE OF KIMBERLEY.
Hewing their way through the dense bush, constantly assailed on all sides by the natives, the army pushed on in three columns, and after passing the village of Egginassie encountered considerable opposition, and later stormed the village of Bequah, where Lord Gifford earned his Victoria Cross. In effecting the bridging of the Ordah, severe skirmishing took place, and at Ordah-su a lengthy battle was fought, the village being ultimately carried and held by the Rifles. In this battle the ill-fated Wauchope, who later met his death at Magersfontein, was severely wounded when serving with the 42nd. Forcing its way onward, with the pipers of the Black Watch playing at its head, the army entered Commassie practically unopposed, and the reign of the barbarous King Koffi Calcali came to an end, a reign in which "murder, pure and simple, monotonous massacre of bound men," was the "one employment of the King, and the one spectacle of the populace."
In the march on Commassie 80 European officers and men were killed, and 261 officers and men wounded, but the number of deaths from disease was very great. The grim spectre of disease is always more to be feared than the bullets of an enemy. In this war Captain (afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel) Reginald Sartorius, who had accompanied the column from Accra in the advance on Commassie, but did not reach there until it was abandoned, earned the V.C. for a daring ride of 55 miles across country in order to communicate with the General Commanding, and at Abogov, under a heavy fire, carrying a wounded Houssa soldier into cover. For his services Sir Garnet Wolseley was offered a baronetcy, which he declined, but accepted a grant of £25,000.
The troops engaged were the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers; 42nd Black Watch; 2nd Batt. 60th Rifles; 150 Royal Engineers; 2nd West India Regiment; Houssa Artillery and a Naval Brigade.
The Ashantee Medal.—By a general order dated June 1st, 1874, Her Majesty granted a medal to her naval and military forces who had been employed on the Gold Coast under Sir Garnet Wolseley during the operations against the King of Ashantee from June 9th, 1873, to February 4th, 1874, with a bar inscribed COMMASSIE to those who were present at Amoaful, and the actions between that place and Commassie, including its capture, and to those who during the five days of those actions were engaged on the north of the Prah in maintaining and protecting the communications of the main army. This medal has since been given for a number of expeditions in Central Africa, and on the East and West Coast. The recipient's name and regiment, or ship, and the date 1873-4, are engraved in square Roman capitals on the edge of the medal, and blacked in for the campaign 1873-4, but after that date the names are found impressed as well as engraved. On the obverse is the diademed head of Queen Victoria facing left, with plain veil falling over the back of the crown behind, surrounded by the legend VICTORIA REGINA. On the truncation L. C. WYON. The reverse, by Sir Edward Poynter, P.R.A., represents British troops fighting natives in the bush, and while it may be alleged to pictorially represent something of the difficulties met with by the troops—which I do not consider it does—it cannot be said to fulfil the requirements of a decoration for personal wear. The medal, which is 1⅖ in. in diameter, with a straight clasp and claw clip arrangement, fastened by a rivet through the medal, is suspended from a ribbon 1¼ in. wide, yellow with black borders, and two narrow black stripes. The bars are plain, with a raised straight border.
Perak.—Perak, on the western side of the Malay Peninsula, had been independent of Siam since 1882, but the sovereignty of the State had been in dispute. In order to put an end to the constant feuds, the offer of Ismail, one of the claimants, to surrender the sovereignty to Britain was accepted, and Mr. Birch was appointed British Resident in Perak city. Ismail a few months later, desirous of securing the throne, attacked the Residency and murdered the Resident. The neighbouring Rajahs joined with him, and it became necessary to dispatch a punitive expedition. A party of troops and a Naval Brigade therefore proceeded up the Perak River, destroyed the village of Passir Sala, and captured 6 guns, while General Colbourne's column marched through the jungle, so "dense and dark that during all the time not a vestige of sun or sky was visible overhead," and during the advance (on Kintra) the troops—1,300 men of the 80th and a naval brigade from the "Modeste" and "Ringdove"—"were without cover of any kind, and slept in the damp dewy open." On the capture of Kintra, the Maharajah Lela and Ismail fled into the jungle; meantime Brigadier-General Ross, with a detachment of the Buffs and some Goorkas, stormed Kotah Lama and burned it. On January 19th Ismail was decisively worsted, and on March 22nd he was captured and sent to Singapore, and the districts which had been the scene of constant conflict became, under British rule, prosperous and contented.