TOPIC:

Well, I'm so glad that you do buy them, Mike, they are a truly superb and hard earned pair, the missing left arm of the crown is really strange, it looks almost deliberate, never mind, still a scarce medal.

mike rowan wrote: According to my records I bought this Afghanistan medal and Kabul to Kandahar Star in 1993. As you can see ,half of the the top bar of the crown is missing. I was a bit two minded about buying it, but it was a good unit and maybe some research would uncover a story.
I asked a researcher in the UK to draw the service papers of 899 L/cpl J McKenzie of the 92nd Regiment. The papers duly arrived and I found that John McKenzie had attested into the 92nd Regiment as a boy of 14 years in 1862. He was 4ft 6inches tall on enlistment. Although he originally came from Tipperary , he joined up in Calcutta on 29 September 1862 and served with the regiment , which then returned to the UK in May 1963 . The regiment saw home service until January 1868, when it again went to India and McKenzie now served in India until March 1879 at which point he went to Afghanistan with the regiment. He was awarded the Afghanistan medal and 3 clasps as well as the Kabul to Kandahar Star. After this campaign the regiment went back to India for a few months. In January 1881, he is recorded as being in the Cape Colony, the regiment having been ordered across to fight the Boers. His service records show South Africa 1881 ( along with Afghanistan) under Campaigns. There it would have ended if I didnt get hold of a copy of a research document by Lovell and Prior ( signatures not very clear, so I may have misread them ) This publication researched the casualties of the 1st Boer War in detail and showed that 899 L/Cpl J McKenzie had been taken prisoner on Majuba mountain. The roll makes the following observation , "The presence at Camp Bronkhorst Spruit of those so noted is recorded in the Camp State of 27/3/1881 signed by Surgeon E C R Ward, AMD, attached 94th REgt. i/c Camp " A Summary of Casualties by unit showed that the 92nd Regt. had 25 men taken prisoner.
McKenzie was discharged in September 1883 as he was medically unfit for further service.

Thanks , Frank
I guess that it is this sort of research discovery that makes our hobby so worthwhile

Hi
Two casualties for the Majuba action

Henk

Hi
Medals to two more of the men killed by Boer bullets in the First Boer War


Henk

Hi
Lydenburg was besieged between 6 January and 30 March 1881.

Hissey suffered a gunshot wound to the the head : one of 19 wounded (4 killed) . He was subsequently discharged as being unfit for any further service.
Henk

A beautiful example Henk