TOPIC:

A friend with access to shipping lists has cleared up a point I raised in my first post. There is no record of Dartnell having travelled to Britain in 1902, so he evidently spent his year-long leave in South Africa, probably at his home in Pietermaritzburg.

Dartnell left Natal for London aboard the SS Ingeli in 1904. He returned briefly in 1906 during the Natal Rebellion and added the Rebellion Medal without clasp to his medal group. He is recorded as being on the Natal Militia Staff. While on the subject of this medal, one of Dartnell's Boer War staff, Inspector A G Abraham, was entitled to the medal without clasp, but did not claim it.

Brett

Brett,

I was having a look at the WO 100/261 signed by Clarke 9 July 1908 (PMB). The submission was for SA 1901 & 1902 clasps for what appears to be over 300 members of the Natal Police. Period of service during War is entered as "11-10-99 to 31-5-02." Clearly the NP believed that they had served for the duration of the War. The column for the "SA 1902" clasp had been filled in but crossed out. A handwritten note under "Remarks" with an arrow pointing from the column "Whether also entitled to the KSA" reads "not eligible for KM. Informed 31-3-10. Clasp 01 iss to Col Mansel 7-10-10." If this reference only concerns Col Mansel or the NP in general isn't clear. Mansel is the first name on the list followed by F.A. Campbell and all the other inspectors followed by sub-inspectors etc.

Regardless of what the actual requirements were for the 1902 clasp and KSA these papers seems to indicate that even in 1908 the NP clearly held the view that the majority of the members of the force were entitled to SA 1901 & 1902 clasps and presumably the KSA and presumably they weren't advised otherwise until 1909/1910.

Evidently my great great grandfather Insp. F.A. Campbell had a self-named KSA that he wore. I believe there is a photo of him with Dartnell and several other officers and his KSA is clearly visible. I've never been able to locate a copy of the photo. I believe the photo was taken in 1910. Campbell died in May 1910 so the photo must been taken shortly before his death.

If Campbell was openly wearing his self-issued KSA then were any of the other inspectors doing so? Did these men (pre the 1910 note) possibly believe that they were still going to get their KSAs and were just using a filler? If the note about not being eligible for the KSA isn't specifically for Mansel and concerns the others on the roll then it would seem that the NP in general were expecting SA 1902 clasps at the minimum and most likely the KSA.

I would be most interested to hear from anyone who has photos of the NP officers if any are wearing the KSA other than the few who received them.

Mark

The matter of the award of the combined 1901 and 1902 clasps to the NP is as muddled as that of the award of the KSA.

Initially, it did seem likely that the NP would receive both date clasps, but as it turned out the clasps were withheld from the 1899-1900 veterans because Buller's Natal campaign was terminated 1900. As was so often the case, the 1901 clasp was given as a late issue and it is often missing from NP QSA's, even when men were entitled to it.

Ironically, and rather insultingly, there is another NP QSA roll for the men who joined the NP AFTER the Natal campaign was over (i.e. those men who did not qualify for either the Natal clasp or battle clasps). These men were awarded BOTH date clasps.

Perhaps the best way to look at all the confusion surrounding NP QSA/KSA's is that sorting out who was actually entitled to what adds some interest to researching Natal Policemen.

Regards
Brett

Brett,

Yeah, the saga of the NP date clasps and KSA is a real minefield. As far as I'm aware the bulk of NP SA 1901 clasps (327 in this case) were sent to the Chief Commissioner, NP only on 7 May 1909. As the application for both clasps was only made in July 1908 would this not tend to indicate that the NP believed they were entitled to the date clasps even as late as 1908/1909 rather than just initially?

An example of unfitted SA 1901 clasps that I'm aware of is Insp. F.A. Campbell and his son H.C. Campbell who never had the SA 1901 clasp fitted to their QSAs. In F.A.'s case he died in May 1910 and presumably only received his SA 1901 clasp late 1909 so possibly never had time to fit it but H.C. Campbell served with 4th SAI in WWI and was taken POW at the Defence of Messines Ridge in April 1918 so presumably would have worn his medals several times after receiving the 1901 clasp in 1909. His WWI medals were mounted with his QSA, Natal 1906 and Coronation medal but the 1901 clasp was unfitted laying loose. Was this a case of just never getting around to having it fitted or did he perhaps deliberately leave it off? One obviously can't answer such a question but given the history of the NP date clasps it was likely a prickly issue with many in the NP.

I think it would be fair to say that while Buller's Natal campaign was terminated in 1900 the NP continued to be actively employed in the War effort witin the Natal Colony for the duration, albeit in some of the most distasteful of roles; that of "policing" the Natal Afrikaners. Wassermann's Ph.D thesis "The Natal Afrikaner and the Anglo-Boer War" (University of Pretoria, 2005) offers some insight into the role of the NP in Natal during the War and their part in the investigation of and the rounding up and internment of suspected rebels and their families and then the confiscation of rebel property and livestock etc.

It would appear that while Dartnell and his associates were off elsewhere "detatched" the NP was still very much involved with their own particular war against the rebel question. The subject of concentration camps and driving alledged rebel families off their land was probably an issue that the powers-that-be found problamatic in the years following the War. Was perhaps the clouding of the role played by the NP in the War effort post Buller's 1900 Natal campaign part of post-war damage contol?

what a minefield of a subject! how would an ordinary NP trooper even get his hands on a ksa let alone get it named correctly? best rob

Rob, after the war pawn shops would have had a few as people pawned the silver.