TOPIC:

angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-awar...ngent?start=54#14895

Bhisti Corps, Bangalore District, entitled to a Cape Colony clasp. Sold previously Burman '98 (£105) and Bosley's Jun '05

David,

DNW also have three other bronze QSAs on offer:

1286. 260 Kneader Kallam, S & T Corps

1287. 485 Bhisti Mohamed, S. & T. Corps

1289. 9 Syce Hari, .(?). Lcrs.

1286. 260 Kneader Kallam, S & T Corps
Clasps for Defence of Ladysmith & Transvaal. Spink's 1999

1287. 485 Bhisti Mohamed, S. & T. Corps
Rawalpindi. Clasp for Cape Colony. Glendining's 1997

1289. 9 Syce Hari, .(?). Lcrs.
Yes this one is of interest. I examined it 3-4 years ago. (Had to pay duty to look at it and post it back)The suspension is a WWI BWM bronze one. ie non-swivel
The name has been removed at 6 o'clock and the new name placed at the shoulder at 9-12 o'clock.
The only name on the roll that it might be is 9 Syce Hori of the Rampur Imperial Service Lancers.
My conclusion is officially renamed after the name was removed and a new suspender added in WWI.
There are two similar medals named to Imperial Service Lancers- I.S.Lcrs but no roll. I think that they were issued late.

1286. 260 Kneader Kallam, S & T Corps
Clasps for Defence of Ladysmith & Transvaal. Spink's 1999

1287. 485 Bhisti Mohamed, S. & T. Corps
Rawalpindi. Clasp for Cape Colony. Glendining's 1997

1289. 9 Syce Hari, .(?). Lcrs.
Yes this one is of interest. I examined it 6-7 years ago. (Had to pay duty to look at it and post it back!)The suspension clasp has "bullock balls" fixing it to the medal rather than the more normal floriate design.
The name has been removed at the 6 o'clock position and the new name placed at the shoulder at 9-12 o'clock avoiding the area where the name had been removed.
The only name on the roll that I thought it might be is 9 Syce Hori of the Rampur Imperial Service Lancers.
My feeling was that it was a medal that had been previously named, renamed in the area where there were no excoriations from the naming removal process and a new QSA suspender added. Officially or not I do not know.

The "bullock ball" suspender made me feel that the assembly was done at the mint where such things were available. It is the only bronze QSA medal that I have seen with this bastardised form of the IGS and QSA suspender.

There are two similar medals named to Imperial Service Lancers- I.S.Lcrs - that I have noted, one in a collection and one for sale through Burman's I have not seen a roll specifically for I.S.Lancers. I would be keen to know if these two medals have similar changes and if so they might be "official".

So yes of interest!

Scans etc www.britishmedalforum.com/viewtopic.php?...t=23508&hilit=Rampur

Note the Calcutta Style "Bullock Ball" fastener




Note the naming up to the excoriations



Note the naming up against the suspender

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Over the past decade I have been trying to formulate a roll for Indian Troops who were casualties during the Boer War. No list currently exists in the public domain, where as other Empire Contingents are freely available. Some names have been easy since they are listed in the remarks column of the QSA roll. There is one printed document that lists the graves in Natal. Some books have tantalisingly told me that Indians died on that day. The really break though came when I requested some documents from the India Office and the Pension Book turned up. This lists all those Indians, in the service of the Empire, who died or were wounded and were awarded a pension, by Britain. Many of the names correspond to data that I already had. Much was new and much is undecipherable due to spelling inconsistencies or insufficient information to be able to distinguish between common names.

The initial work was undertaken to track the location of various units during the Boer War. Insufficient information makes this impossible but I am able to locate specific casualties to various locations.

So for Tweebosch, where Sir Fredrick Smith writes
" Then followed acts of murder which had become all too common; native drivers were shot, and the whole Indian and Kaffir establishment of the Field Veterinary Hospital were butchered. One Farrier Sergeant of Native Cavalry and two Indian Assistants ( men carrying no arms) were ruthlessly shot dead after the surrender, and nine Hospital Kaffirs were either killed in action or murdered later"
I can now name the Sergeant Farrier and the two Veterinary Assistants.

One of the problems has been to establish dates of death. For many the date of pension follows the date of death but in many it does not. So for Syce Araiji; I know he died on the 4th May, 1902 from Enteric while at Gillett's Remount Station and is buried in Pinetown; his pension date is 2nd January 1903.




So I now have a casualty list of about 100 confirmed deaths and maybe another 30 which still needs to be worked on.

The benefits to medal collectors.
Well one of our fraternity has been notified of the misfortune of one of his recipients. There is one other medal that has been sold but I have no idea who the owner is,and .....................................................................................................................................................................................



I.G.S.M. Clasps Tiarh; Punjab Frontier; Relief of Chitral 2169 Sowar Khushi Ram 9th Bengal Lancers
Q. S. A. M. Clasp South Africa 1902 ( not issued) 2169 Sowar Khushi Ram9th Bengal Lancers





ex Spinks Numismatic Circular July/Aug 1977
ex City Coins 2009
Collection Grant

Folio 15 (4) L/AG/26/11/2
His widow, Mohande aged 17 was granted a pension of Rs33 from 19/11/02 for life.

So I presume Khushi Ram died of disease while serving at a Remount or Government Livestock Station in Natal.The pension date does not preclude him from being a Boer War Casualty since in the example of Araiji, the pension date may lag considerably behind the date of death.

One sad tale is of Havildar Munesar Singh of 8th Rajputs Bengal Infantry who died of a Gunshot Wound self inflicted at Howick. He was buried outside the graveyard and when the graveyard was relocated his name was left off the memorial. He served with the Dhobi Corps as pay master.





In case there is any interest the casualty roll sits at 102.

Their memorial was the first to be erected by public subscription as illustrated earlier; now vandalized and abandoned.


References

Eric Itzkin - Indian War Memorial: Selective Memories of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902.
The Register of War Graves in Natal, 1904
Smith, Sir Fredrick Smith - A Veterinary History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902. H.& W. Brown, London 1919
Wassweman J. & Kearney B A - Warrior's Gateway. Durban and the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. Protea Book House, Pretoria. 2002
L/AG/26/11/2 (India Office)
WO 100/296,297,298

In addition I would like to acknowledge the considerable help of our member Ellard and Janice O'Brien