TOPIC:

Served: Johannesburg.

Picture courtesy of DNW

An extremely rare Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps and Anglo-Boer War pair awarded to Burger D. J. Schutte, Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek Politie, a member of the 2nd Infantry Section of the Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps who was afterwards taken P.O.W. at the Z.A.R.P’s famous last stand at Dalmanutha

ABO (Burg. D. J. Schutte)
Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps Medal 1894-99, unnamed as issued, this last with one or two edge bruises, otherwise very fine or better

£800-1200

The rare Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps Medal was struck in Holland by Beeger of Utrecht at the request of Commandant S. H. van Diggelen, the Commanding Officer of the Corps. It was awarded to his men who had fought against Jameson at Doornkop and, later, to those who participated in the Swaziland Expedition of 1898; only around a dozen or so examples of the Medal are known to have survived.

Diederick Johannes Schutte appears on the original hand written roll of the Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps, signed by Commandant S. H. van Diggelen. He served in the 2nd Infantry Section. During the Boer War he served in the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek Politie (Z.A.R.P.) under Commandant G. M. J. van Dam, as a member of the Foot Police in Johannesburg, and was taken P.O.W. at the Z.A.R.P’s famous last stand at Dalmanutha; the British P.O.W. roll states that he was taken prisoner at Barberton on 13 September 1900 but also mentions the fact that he was onetime in the Johannesburg Refugee Camp. He was held prisoner in Ceylon.