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An unusual group of four from soldier turned cleric Kenneth Meeres Grant from the next C&T Auction.

Under the hammer at Warwick and Warwick today:

CGHGSM (1) Basutoland ((Tpr T. Wise C.M. Yeo)
QSA (4) Rhodesia, Relief of Mafeking, OFS, Transvaal, SA02 (247 Trans-Serjt T. Wise Kitchener's F.S)
KSA (2) (247 Trans-Serjt T. Wise Kitchener's F.S)

Thomas Wise was born in Grahamstown, the first 2 clasps on QSA were earned serving with Rhodesia Regt in which he enlisted 21/8/99 and from which he was discharged at Mafeking 30/9/00, enlisted in Kitchener's Fighting Scouts 19/7/01 aged 40 and discharged 7/6/03

From the next City Coins auction, November 2020

Klipkraal, near Richmond, 26 February 1901

Captain Strong and some 70 men of Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts were on reconnaissance duty in the Richmond district and were caught in an ambush by a 200 strong Boer commando while passing through a defile on the farm Klipkraal. Eventually, with 4 of his party killed and 7 wounded, Captain Strong surrendered. The subsequent Court of Enquiry found that the party was captured owing to the absence of proper precautions on approaching the defile, the result of want of military training and knowledge. SA Surrenders WO 108/372.

QSA (3) CC, OFS, TVL (860 Tpr. S.C. Wallach, Kitchener’s F.S.)
edge knocks

Siegwart Charles Wallach, an American with trade given as Blacksmith, enlisted in Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts in Durban on 12 Jan 1901. Six weeks later he was severely wounded and taken prisoner at Klipkraal. Also entitled to SA’01 clasp.

From the next City Coins auction, November 2020

Rooiberg / Pienaar's River, 1-2 June 1901

Due to the reported southward advance of Gen Beyers’ Commando from the Waterberg district in May 1901, Lt Col Grenfell tasked two columns (the one under Lt Col A E Wilson at Naboomspruit and the other under Maj H McMicking at Nylstroom) with the protection of the railway line to Pretoria. Wilson’s column (540 strong, including 300 Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts) acted on intelligence reports about Boer commandos in the Warm Baths vicinity and moved down to Roodeberg to round them up. On 1 June two of Wilson’s squadrons had a sharp engagement with 500 Boers under Commandants Uys and Pretorius. Both sides suffered significant losses but in retreating the Boers came within reach of the rest of Wilson’s column.
“He fell upon them heavily on the 2nd, and after a stubborn combat which continued all day, utterly routed them, killing and wounding many and taking forty prisoners, with loss to his own force of only eleven.” “The History of the War in South Africa”, Vol IV, p441:

The incident is not mentioned in the Times History of the War but is fully covered in “After Pretoria: The Guerilla War” Vol II, p608-610, albeit with highly inflated numbers of Boer casualties.

The SAFF Casualty Roll has a combined listing over the 2 days’ skirmishing “near Pienaar’s River” of 8 men from KFS as KiA or DoW with a further 23 men wounded.

QSA (3) CC, OFS, Tvl (678 Tpr. H.M. Silver, Kitchener’s F.S.)

Tpr Silver was severely wounded on 2 June 1901 and died of his wounds at Pretoria on 13 July 1901. He is buried in Pretoria.

The medal is skimmed and officially re-impressed “upside down”, but there is no entry on the main QSA roll to account for this.

On the secondary QSA roll, Silver’s entitlement to the SA01 clasp is noted with a date of 17-10-06 in the margin.

From today's City Coins auction, 27 November 2020

Zoutpandrift, 30 December 1901

Stirling’s “The Colonials in South Africa” p261, in the section dealing with Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts, incorrectly states “On the 20th December 3 men were killed and Lieutenant J Sampson and 6 men were wounded at Zoutpans Drift”. The incident actually took place on 30 December and is, strangely enough, not covered in the standard Boer War sources. However, according to the “mentions” obtained by 3 men (LG 25 April 1902, p2770, 2777 and 2778) the Scouts held a ridge against a much superior force of the enemy for over half-an-hour. When Lieutenant Sampson was wounded, he was bandaged by Corporal E P Berlyn under very heavy fire. Berlyn then carried Sampson under cover, being twice wounded in doing so, and continued to give directions as to the wounded men.

QSA (2) OFS, Tvl (1632 Tpr. W. Chapman. Kitchener’s F.S.)

Walter Chapman enlisted in the Imperial Light Infantry on 20 November 1900, serving until his discharge on 19 August 1901.
Some 3 weeks later, on 9 September 1901, he enlisted in Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts.

He was one of the three men killed in the Zoutpandrift skirmish and is buried on the farm Rietfontein.

The QSA to Trooper Silver is now available from the London Medal Co for £450.