War Medals and Their History

by William Augustus Steward

The following troops were engaged at Abu-Klea: Sussex Regiment; Mounted Infantry; Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers; Heavy Camel Corps; 19th Hussars, and a Naval Brigade.

Kirbekan.—During the campaign the battle of Kirbekan was fought on February 10th, and Major-General Earle, the General in Command, killed in a manner which calls to mind Forbes Mitchell's description of how Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, met his death. The battle had been won, but odd parties of survivors were being routed out; the General, despite warnings, went up to a stone hut full of Arabs, and essayed to enter it, but was shot dead. Needless to say his death was avenged—indeed, of the force of 2,000 Lord Wolseley said "scarcely any can have escaped." Two colonels were also killed at this battle, which raged for five hours. The "Black Watch" lost Lieutenant-Colonel Coveney killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wauchope wounded. The bar inscribed KIRBEKAN was well earned. It should be noted that no medal for this campaign is genuine which has a single bar inscribed Kirbekan; it was only given in combination with the bar THE NILE 1884-85. There are, of course, other combinations, but these were due to the fact that the recipient had taken part in the earlier campaigns. Four-bar medals are rather rare, and five-bar medals very uncommon.

The following troops were engaged at Kirbekan: South Staffordshire Regiment; 1st Batt. Black Watch, squadron 19th Hussars; 2 gun crews of artillery; small naval detachment with maxim gun—about 1,200 men.

The following troops received the bar for the Nile: "Black Watch"; Gordon and Cameron Highlanders; 18th Royal Irish; Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry; Royal West Kent Regiment; Essex Regiment; South Staffordshire Regiment; 19th Hussars; Heavy Camel Corps, and a Naval Brigade.

To Recover the Sudan.—The fall of Khartoum led to the organisation of another campaign in order to recover the Sudan from the power of Osman Digna, and for this arduous campaign those who did not receive the new Egyptian medal had a bar added to the one they possessed for SUAKIN 1885. During this campaign a New South Wales contingent of 800 took part. A battle which came as a surprise, and resulted in heavy losses, was fought on March 22nd, 1885, and for this a bar inscribed TOFREK was given. The only entire regiment present was the 1st Batt. Royal Berkshire. The losses of the Hadenowas were over 1,500; the British lost 5 officers and 94 men killed, 6 officers and 136 men wounded, 1 officer and 70 men missing, and of the Indian contingent 120 were killed or wounded.

The following troops were present at Tofrek: the Berkshire Regiment; a detachment of Royal Engineers; a squadron of the 5th Lancers and 20th Hussars; a battalion of Marines; a Naval Brigade, and an Indian Brigade.

By a General Order dated September 1st, 1885, a medal of the 1882 pattern was granted to all Her Majesty's forces employed in the operations in the Sudan, in commemoration of their arduous labours in the ascent of the Nile, and their gallantry in the operations which ensued, and also for the operations in the Eastern Sudan in the vicinity of Suakin; and Her Majesty further approved of the issue of the following bars: THE NILE 1884-85, ABU KLEA, KIRBEKAN, SUAKIN 1885, and TOFREK. A General Order dated June 1st, 1886, signified that the Egyptian medal be granted to the troops engaged in the operations of the Upper Nile who had not previously received it.

Gemaizah, 1888.—The neighbourhood of Suakin was again the scene of battle when, on December 20th, 1888, the Dervishes advanced on the place with the determination to invest it. General Grenfell, however, forced the issue, and on December 20th, 1888, after one and a half hour's fighting, totally routed them; for this battle the bar for GEMAIZAH 1888 was awarded by an Army Order in January 1890, and the medal to all who were employed at, or south of, Korosko on August 3rd, 1889.

The following troops were engaged at Gemaizah: King's Own Scottish Borderers; the Welsh Regiment; Royal Irish Rifles; 137 officers and men 20th Hussars; Mounted Infantry; 17 officers and men of the 24th Company Royal Engineers; Naval Brigade of men from H.M.S. "Starling" and "Racer," and Egyptian troops.

Toski.—After this battle the expedition was withdrawn, and the Sudan was left to the mercy of the Dervishes, Suakin alone being held by the British and Egyptians. Ever on the war-path, the followers of the Mahdi resolved to invade Egypt, and were actually permitted to penetrate northwards for about 50 miles. At Toski, however, they were seriously encountered by Sir F. Grenfell, the Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, and on August 3rd a terrific but comparatively bloodless battle for the British and Egyptians was fought. The Dervishes, however, were routed, and almost every leader was killed. For this battle a bar inscribed TOSKI 1889 was awarded to all troops who were present at the action. Men who had received bars for former Egyptian campaigns, on receiving new ones, returned the old ones to the Commissary-General of Ordnance, Woolwich Arsenal; the rivets of all genuine medal bars are, therefore, always the same. The names and regiments are usually engraved in slanting Roman letters, but those given to the navy are generally stamped in rather large skeleton upright Roman letters.