TOPIC:

From the next Laidlaw auction


Picture courtesy of Laidlaw Auctions

Described as:

A Boer War period steel watch chain fob medallion in the form of a cross and bearing the struck inscription "Siege of Ladysmith, P of LTS, 2.11.99, R Mac'D, 28:2, 1900", 25 mm excluding suspender

This item was passed and unsold as Lot 719 at DNW's sale on 27th/28th February 2019.
In the catalogue there was the following footnote:
"It is believed the'P.of L.T.S.' stands for 'Part of Long Tom Shell.' The 155 m/m Creusot Long Tom was a type of French field gun being used by the Boers."

The cross has since been cleaned and enhanced with the addition of the length of ribbon and suspension ring.

However, I doubt that it was ever part of a shell!
Most likely the product of an entrepreneur making the most of the Victorian penchant for battlefield souvenirs!
Still an interesting item if you got it for a reasonable bid.

I have seen half a dozen of these over the years, so it seems Ladysmith had quite an industry churning out such souvenirs for early battlefield tourists (though not as large as in Kimberley, where it appears the entire jewellery trade turned their hands to the manufacture of bullet and shrapnel charms).

This is actually a different example to the DNW one. That example had "2.11.99 H.P.T. 28.2.1900" on the reverse.

As Moranthorse1 says, P. of L.T.S. almost certainly stands for "Piece of Long Tom Shell", and I agree that there is very little chance that the steel used to manufacture these actually left the muzzle of a 155 mm Creusot. The effort involved in hammering large lumps of shrapnel into plate and then cutting out Maltese crosses would have been far too great.
All the examples I have examined are made from the same uniform gauge of 1.5 mm plate, suggesting they were all cut from the same stock.
Which only shows tourists hungry for souvenirs were as easily led in 1900 as they are today...!

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Thanks Neville, I overlooked the numbering detail in my excitement!

Further internet searches have brought up a conversation between yourself and QSAMIKE on another forum, where you discussed other examples of this design, such as one with 'A.T.D.' stamped thereon for Armoured Train Disaster. They must have knocked thousands of these out at the time.

It makes me wonder if the manufacturer(s) were originally from Birmingham the 'City of a Thousand Trades'?
Although as they were quite crude in quality, I guess anyone with access to the appropriate tooling could have made them.

Two examples I have in my collection .....



The top one which is stamped "G.E. NAYLOR, V.D.G." belonged to 4593 Private Alfred BLACKBURN, 5th Dragoon Guards. This was an alias, his real name being George Ernest Maurice NAYLOR. I haven't been able to find any obvious reason for his decision/need to serve under an assumed name.

He served through the Siege of Ladysmith, an experience that impacted on his health for life, as the following medical reports show. Given his physical state, it seems extraordinary that he was able to enlist during WWI.

20 Jan 1903
Patient states that he has had very bad health for the past 18 months. He never properly recovered the Siege of Ladysmith but did his duty with frequent admissions to Hospital up to October 1901. He then became so bad that he was admitted to General Hospital at Standerton from which he states he was invalided home but only got as far as Howick when he was returned to Newcastle for further treatment and to await the departure of his regiment. He joined the regiment at Durban, proceeded to India and was admitted to Station Hospital Lucknow 15.5.02 with Debility. He is now debilitated and suffers from pains in the legs and groins. There is some enlargement of the lymphatic glands of the groin, cause of which is obscure. Patient states he was kicked by a horse Sept. 1900. He is unable to ride consequently. Disease is the result of service and has not been aggravated by vice, interference or misconduct.

3 Mar 1916
Patient states that he has had cough, expectoration & shortness of breath since the S. African War.
He was invalided out of the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1902 on account of bronchitis and was invalided home on Dec 2nd 1915.
Patient states that his true age is 42. He complains of general weakness, cough, expectoration all through the day, vomiting after the cough, shortness of breath, pain in left side of chest, palpitations on exertion in coughing.
On examination he has evidence of chronic bronchitis and his general condition is much reduced. Teeth are discoloured, some carious, many absent. He also complains of a sharp dragging pain just below the groin evidently resulting from the operation for varicose veins.


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The Siege of Ladysmith certainly left it's mark on Naylor!