TOPIC:

I collect only to South African units e.g. The Imperial Light Horse, as opposed to British units such as the 8th Hussars.

As part of this I sometimes come across an interesting DCM to a South African. I have noticed that they have all except one got the Edward obverse as opposed to the trophy obverse.

There was an exception to the Cape Town Highlanders on the last DNW sale.

In the OMRS a few years ago soneone did a count of British ones and concluded it is a 50/50 split for those.

So why are the South African ones different? I think it could be because they were issued in a batch, but I have not looked into that yet.

I think I need to do a study on this and welcome any observations of non Edward DCM's. Am I right or wrong in what I think I am seeing?

Cheers
Ryan

I did a quick look in the DNW archive and of a few I know of, and there are a few VR ones out there, but most still seem to be Edward:
Stringer SALH Edward
Haines Cape Mounted Rifles Edward
Francis ILH Edward
Neilson Thornicroft Tropghy
Roberts Montmorency's Scouts Edward
Ackland Thornicroft Tropghy
Stillwell Queenstown rifle Volunteers Tropghy
Jearey BSAP Edward
Cochrane SALH Edward
McMeekan Railway Pioneer Regiment Edward
Russel Imperial Light Horse Edward
McKenny Roberts Horse Edward
Moore Cape Town Highlanders Tropghy
Newton Rimmingtons Guides Tropghy
Ure Railway Pioneer Regiment Edward
Vine SAC Edward

11 Edwards vs. 5 Trophy.

Make it 13 (so far) vs 7 (so far); Loxton FID DCM is EVII
Shipley DCM RPR is EVII.
Possibly the reason for a reportedly larger proportion of EVII obverses is that the SA contribution was not officially recognised until later?
Regards
IL.

My man Stirling (Cape Police) is also Edward....

Interesting question Ryan

I have been working on updating all DCMs for the ABW, for which I have set a number of tasks:

1. Determine why the DCM was awarded: enemy action or good service
2. Identify the location of the DCM action and connect to the Gazetteer
3. Find and provide a URL for all London Gazette entries related to the DCM to the man's record in The Register
4. Determine the obverse

All tasks happen sequentially, although I am concentrating on 1.

My count for Ryan's question is: 14 vs 9

Looking at other non-British countries:
Australia - 2 (EVII)
Canada - 1 (Victorian or Trophy)

The Register is updated as I go along and when I am done I hope to write a review article for OMRS.

Regards
Meurig

Ryan Rory and Meurig
Being beset by a very wet, very windy weekend (no wafts of powder smoke for IL!), I dug out my copy of Sotheby's auction of the collection of the late Charles LOVELL, M.B.E. (second - final - part, 16/11/1978) and trawled through a glittering array of Boer War DCMs (or at least, the descriptions thereof). I made it sixty-two BW DCMs and I took the liberty of listing them by surname, type of obverse and unit. To get to the point quickly, I made it as twenty six with Trophy obverse (denoted by "Tr")and thirty five with EVII obverse (denoted by "7"). And one which was not listed as having either.
Yeatman, Tr. 1LG
Feast Tr. 5DG
Cobb, 7 7DG
Lloyd, Tr, 1Dr
Banks, 7, 2dr
McKinnon, 7, 6D
Wixon, 7 16L
Aldridge,7 19H
Rolinson, Tr, GG
Lazenby, Tr, CG
Holland, Tr, Rl.Scts
Robinson, 7, RWS
Fagg, Tr, E.Kent,
Collins, Tr, RlWarw.
Oliver, 7, RlFus
Kirkwell, 7, RlFus
Carney, 7, Lpools
Shepherd, 7, Lincs.
Benson, Tr., EYorks
Moss, Tr, LancFus
Davies, Tr, Chesh.
Rand, 7, SWB
Challis, Tr, KOSB
Howard, 7, Innis
Young, Tr, Gloc
Fisher, Tr, ESurrey
Thomason, 7, Dorsets
Anderson, 7, RlH
Cripps, 7, OxLI
Dandy, 7, LNL
Kidd, 7, Northants
Demaine, 7, KOYLI
Bettleby, Tr, Midlx
Morris, 7, Manch
Preston, Tr, NStaff
Mcdowall, 7, HLI
Hamilton, 7, Sforths
Braisby, Tr, RIF
Vaughan, 7, Leinsters
Strange, 7, Munsters
Brown, 7, Dubs
Chilvers, 7, RB
Greene, Tr, RGA
James, 7, RGA
Day, 7, RGA
Brady, 7, RGA
Gilchrist, 7, RGA
Callow, Tr, RFA
Haynes, Tr, RFA
Woolbridge, 7, RFA
Bowers, 7, RFA
Durrell, 7, RFA
Trask, Tr, RE
Cadogan, 7, RAMC
Palfrey, Tr, 5IY
Fox, Tr, 3IY
Pringle, 7, 12th IY
Fawkes, Tr, 8th IY
Bonser, Tr, 15th IY
Hymes, ?? Ld Strath.
McKenzie, 7, Lovats
Sladdin Tr, QRV

It would be nice to have some sort of scanner to recognise words/initials! I suppose all the up-to-date researchers have them!
Hopes this adds to something.
IL.