TOPIC: Medals to men who served in Natal 1840-1865

Medals to men who served in Natal between 1840 and 1865 are not easily come by. The garrison regiment for much of that period,was the 1st Battalion, 45th Regiment, and many of its men took no active part in the Frontier Wars, so were not eligible for the award of the SA 1834 - 1853 Medal. Their cavalry support came from small detachments of Cape Mounted Riflemen, who added only a small number of Frontier Wars' medals to the total.

The recent offering by DNW of the John Nicholson Frontier Wars' Collection broke the drought of Natal medals and I was able to add five to my existing meagre collection.. There are three SA 1834 - 1853 Medals to 45th Regiment soldiers whose service details were new to my collection, and a LS&GC Medal that falls into the same category. Later I will make another post on this man and his medals.

The fifth medal was named to a Cape Mounted Rifleman who had only briefly transferred to the CMR from the 45th. That man's so far unique 45th badge was the subject of an article published in 'Soldiers of the Queen, Issue 168, Autumn 2017.'. Uniting the badge and medal was very satisfying.

Brett

The minute I saw the name "Walsh" in the DNW list I suspected that he was your badges man! How very satisfying indeed to now have been able to reunite the two.

Well done Brett.

Let me know if you need any assistance with papers for your new acquisitions

Rory

Brett,

First the Hotchkiss Detachment and now the 45th - what a great year for you.

Rory
Thank you for your message and offer of further help, There is more to be written about Patrick Walsh, and I may well be calling on your seemingly endless research resources.

David
I have not used your site to record nominal rolls and biographies of the 45th, because there is so much of it that will probably be of little interest and use to the people accessing a site that focusses on the ABW.

Regards
Brett