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QSA (0) (Mr. B. Gotto, "Daily Express") impressed naming.

Ursual September 2000 $4,250
DNW December 2000 £1,500

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (Mr. L. C. Duncombe-Jewell “Morning Post”) good very fine

Louis Charles Richard Jewell was born at Liskeard, Cornwall, on 10 September 1866, and assumed the additional surname of Duncombe in accordance with his Grandmother’s will in 1895. Formerly a Lieutenant in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, he represented The Times in Spain during the rumours of an impending Carlist rising in 1898-99, and served as a Special War Correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper in South Africa, the same paper that also employed Winston Churchill, with the 3rd Division South African Field Force.

Duncombe-Jewell was a noted historian, novelist and verse-writer, and made numerous contributions to the Pall Mall Gazette, Black and White Budget, and many other publications of the period. He was editor of Armorial Cornwall, founder and Hon. Sec. Celtic-Cornish Society, and leader of the Cornish Language Movement.

DNW December 1900 £1,050.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (1) Defence of Mafeking (Mr. J. Angus Hamilton, “Black & White”) copy clasp to which he is not entitled;
China 1900, (1) Relief of Pekin (A. Hamilton, War Correspondent) copy clasp to which he is not entitled;
together with a renamed Africa General Service 1902-56 (Angus Hamilton) fitted with a copy clasp for ‘Somaliland 1902-04’, neither of which he is entitled to.

Note: Hamilton is not entitled to the clasps for the Defence of Mafeking or the Relief of Pekin, War Correspondents being entitled to the medals without clasp only. Whilst he was certainly present during the Somaliland operations, War Correspondents did not qualify for the medal. It is apparent, therefore, that this last medal and the clasps affixed to all three are later embellishments carried out by Hamilton himself. Why, indeed, should he not wish to commemorate his presence at the Defence of Mafeking, at Pekin, and in Somaliland?

Approximately 150 medals were issued to War Correspondents for the Boer War. They represented some 47 different newspapers, but only a small handful of these correspondents were present at the Siege of Mafking. Just 10 medals were issued to War Correspondents for the Boxer Rebellion in China 1900.

John Angus Lushington Moore Hamilton was born in London on 19 February 1874, only son of John Angus Lushington Hamilton, formerly a Captain in the West India Regiment. He was educated at Cheltenham College, from 1889 to 1891, and also in Germany and France. In 1894 he became a special correspondent in America, and from this time he traveeled all over the world, reporting for a number of newspapers and journals. He also wrote a number of books which dealt with his experiences and travels, as well as articles for various journals.

In 1896 he was a special correspondent in Australasia, and, prior to the outbreak of the Boer War, he sailed for South Africa in August 1899. Shortly after his arrival at Cape Town, Hamilton went north by train, arriving at Kimberley on 28 September, and at Mafeking on 9 October. War was declared two days later, on 11 October 1899.

Hamilton was present in Mafeking throughout the siege, and stayed at Riesle’ Hotel. Whilst in South Africa he represented The Times and also the Black and White Budget. Many of his photographs were reproduced in the Black and White Budget from the issue of 10 February 1900 onwards. His own portrait appears in the issue of 3 February 1900, where it states: ‘With the gallant hero of Mafeking, Colonel Baden-Powell, we have a gentleman who is now tasting his first experience of warfare, Mr J. Angus Hamilton, who has the brilliant English dramatist, Mr Arthur Wing Pinero, for his stepfather. Mr Hamilton is the son of a deceased officer in Her Majesty’s Army, and he himself, in addition to being a war correspondent, has been carrying a rifle in the trenches at Mafeking. Mr Hamilton was successful in being the first correspondent to get through pictorial news of the almost already historical siege of the little far-away town on the veld.’

Towards the close of the siege, on 12 May 1900, there was a sharp action when the B.S.A. Police Fort at Mafeking was stormed by the Boers and its occupants captured. Hamilton was present on this occasion, and was himself captured and made a prisoner of Commandant Eloff. However, the gallant townsfolk of Mafeking rallied to their help and at dusk on the same day, after some fierce action, the Boers were forced to surrender and were themselves made prisoners. On 16 May, Mafeking was relieved, and it seems that Hamilton returned immediately to England, for, on 21 July 1900, he was on his way to China and the Boxer Rebellion. Prior to his departure, he had completed his first book, The Siege of Mafeking, published by Methuen & Co. in 1900.

Hamilton arrived in China as correspondent for the Pall Mall Gazette and the Black and White, and covered the end of the Boxer Rebellion. Whilst in China he contracted an illness which forced his return to England, and while in London and about to see his doctor, he heard news of the engagement at Erego in Somaliland. Instead of going to his doctor, he went immediately to see Baron A. J. C. Herbert de Reuter, Managing Director of Reuter’s Telegram Company, and secured arrangements for his journey to the scene of hostilities. He left immediately by train across France and Italy for the Straits of Messina, from where he sailed to Aden. Arriving in British Somaliland at Berbera, Hamilton accompanied the column commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. Cobbe, and took part in a number of the minor expeditions which were conducted during the course of the campaign.

After his adventures in Somaliland, Hamilton again returned to the Far East where he was the representative for the Pall Mall Gazette and The Times of India for Central Asia. He had also found time, in 1903, to be a war correspondent during the Balkan-Macedonia conflict. In 1904 his book, Korea, was published by William Heinemann, and also his Map of Korea in the same year. During 1904-05, Hamilton was a war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War, and his notice in Who was Who records that he received the Russo-Japanese War medal.

From 1905-06 he was a special correspondent in Central Asia, and in the latter year his book, Afghanistan, was published by William Heinemann. Three years later, his book, Problems of the Middle East, was published by Eveleigh Nash, and in 1911 his book, Somaliland, was published by Hutchinson & Co. Hamilton was editor of the South China Morning Post during 1910-11. From October 1911 to April 1912, he was in Assam during the Abor operations, including the Mishmi and Miri Missions. Following these, his book, In Abor Jungles, was published in 1912 by Eveleigh Nash.

Hamilton’s last active service was when he was representing the Central News Agency in the Balkan War of October to December 1912, between Turkey and Bulgaria. During this war, in November, he was captured by the Bulgarians during their advance against Chatalja, and ‘as he was in Turkish dress they manacled him’ and he was taken a prisoner to Kirkkilisse.

After his release, Hamilton went to the United States on a lecture tour, but was discovered dead in a New York hotel on 13 June 1913. He had committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor, an act attributed to despondency over the lack of financial success of his lecture tour. Hamilton was still only 39 years old. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Brooklyn. In addition to his books already quoted, Hamilton contributed a great number of articles to a variety of journals, including the United Service Magazine, the Fortnightly Review, the Hindustan Review, and the Commonwealth Military Journal.

DNW September 2003 £3,400.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (Mr. H. S. S. Pearse, “Daily News”);
Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 2 clasps, Firket, Hafir, unnamed as issued

Henry Hiram Steere Pearse was born on 13 May 1844, at Yealmpton, Devon. He was educated privately in Penzance, and at Plymiton Grammar School. As a young man he was an architect by profession but he never qualified as such. He was also an enthusiastic Volunteer, and was granted a Commission as an Ensign in the 2nd Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps in March 1870, and promoted to Lieutenant in November of the same year.

He started to write on military matters for the Western Morning News, and these articles led to his connection with London journalists. His first important work was that at the great manoeuvres on Dartmoor and on Cannock Chase in 1873, when with the noted correspondent and journalist, Archibald Forbes, he represented the Daily News, with which newspaper he was to be associated until the end of 1900.

His war service started in 1884 with Lord Wolseley’s expedition in the Soudan for the relief of General Gordon. As War Correspondent for the Daily News, Pearse accompanied the Desert Column, under General Sir Herbert Stewart, across the desert, and was present at the fierce battle of Abu Klea on 17 January 1885, when he was severely wounded.

In 1896, Pearse went on the Dongola expedition as War Correspondent for the Daily Graphic, and he received for this service the Khedive’s Sudan medal with clasps for Firket and Hafir. On the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, he was in Cape Town, where he was representing the Daily News. From there he went to Durban, and was present at Elandslaagte, and at the fighting preceeding the investment of Ladysmith by the Boers. He was in Ladysmith throughout the siege, and although never wounded he had some narrow escapes. The most striking of these occurred on 3 November 1899, when a shell from the Boer battery ‘Long Tom’ passed through the ceiling and partition wall of a colleague’s bedroom in the Royal Hotel where Pearse was living. Pearse had the unexpected pleasure, on 28 Februray 1900, of being reunited with his two sons who were both officers with the relieving column, one in the South Africa Light Horse, the other in Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry.

After the relief of Ladysmith by General Buller’s force, Pearse joined Lord Roberts’ army in the Transvaal, and was present at all the principal actions, including the entry into Bloemfontein, and the captures of Johannesburg and Pretoria. For his services in the Boer War he received the Queen’s South Africa medal. As a hunting man Pearse was well known under his ‘nom de plume’ of ‘Plantagenet’, in which name he wrote week by week in The Field. He also wrote in Land and Water and contributed to other journals.

In 1904, Pearse went by special invitation as a representative English journalist to the World’s Fair in St Louis. His last active journalistic work appeared in the columns of the Morning Post, to which newspaper he contributed within a few weeks of his death. In addition to his numerous articles and despatches Pearse was the author of Four Months Beseiged - The Story of Ladysmith, published in 1900, and The History of Lumsden’s Horse, published in 1903.

Henry Pearse died, exhausted in body and worldly means, at Spetisbury, near Blandford, Dorset, on 1 April 1905, aged 60, after a severe illness from which he had been suffering for some time, and which was no doubt partly due to the privations he had suffered whilst on war service. The medals are accompanied by much research, an original copy of his Four Months Beseiged, and a good archive of original papers and mementos, including a post card front (marked “Ladysmith Siege Post Office Feb. 26th 1900”), a red white and blue rosette with ribbons commemorating the relief of Ladysmith, two autograph letters from Ian Hamilton (one dated from Pretoria, 1 June 1902, mentioning that “I am writing this with the pen that signed the peace last night”), a letter-front from Egypt, typed articles by Pearse, various cheques, receipts, telegrams from South Africa, press passes, railway tickets, etc.

DNW September 2003 £3,200.

QSA (0) (Mr. A.G. Hales, 'Daily News')

Mr. A.G. Hales was born in Australia in 1870 and married firstly, Emmaline, daughter of William Pritchard of Adelaide. They had four sons and one daughter before she died in 1911. He married subsequently Jean Reid of Scotland. Mr. Hales was a correspondent for the Daily News in South Africa and was wounded and taken prisoner at Rensburg in February 1900. Hales had attached himself to the Australians, then engaged in some fierce fighting near Colesburg, when he was taken prisoner. The correspondent of the Melbourne Herald, accompanied by Mr. Cameron, the Australian correspondent, bearing a flag of truce, went to the Boer line west of Rensburg to make enquiries from Commandant Delarey regarding Mr. Lambie, Melbourne Age, and Mr. Hales, Daily News, the missing Australian correspondents. They were blindfolded before being taken into the Boer camp, where they were informed that Mr. Lambie had been killed, and were handed the portrait of his wife, which had been found in his pocket. Mr. Hales, owing to a fall from his horse, had been taken prisoner. After the Boer War Mr. Hales continued to write for the Daily News covering the fighting in Macedonia and during the Russo-Japanese war. He travelled extensively throughout the world lecturing and as a special correspondent. He followed mining for years and visited nearly every known mining field in the world, making a particular study of the mining, pastoral and agricultural possibilities in South America. He was a prolific writer and had published a great number of novels including the McGlusky adventures. Mr. Hales lived latterly at Herne Bay in Kent and died on 29 November 1936 (Ref Who Was Who 1929-40) A total of 149 medals were given to War Correspondents in the Boer War, these representing 47 newspapers and journals throughout the Empire. The Daily News was amalgamated, in 1930, with The Daily Chronicle to form the News Chronicle.

DNW December 1994 £1,950.

QSA (0) (Mr. D. P. Barry, “Christchurch Weekly Press”)

DNW September 1998 £750.