Medals and awards

Gold shields, to:

 

Major Ernest VAUX

9994 Sergeant C. McDONALD (K.I.A., Rooidam, 06/05/1900 - did his family receive a medal?)

3265 Corporal John Ambrose COGHLAN

10001 Private Charles BOLDEN

10000 Private Joseph GRAHAM (invalided)

9999 Private Charles JOHNSON

Major Vaux also received a bronze equestrian statue "representing a typical Yeomanry officer", with suitably inscribed silver panel.

 

 

Obverse with the regimental badge of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery over the Gateshead civic arms: "1st DURHAM VOLINTEER ARTILLERY / NIL DESPERANDUM AUSPICE DEO".

Supplied by Mr R.L. Rennison, Bridge Street, Sunderland.

Some articles suggest that all members of the Sunderland contingent, 15th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry received medals. In this case, Quartermaster-Sergeant Joseph Merriman PRIOR, Sergeants William HODGSON & Henry DRENNAN, and Corporals Forster Charlton HUNTLEY, Victor WILSON & James SMITH should be added to the list. However, this seems unlikely, given that the medals were subscribed for by officers of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery, and were intended for their comrades in that corps.

 

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

Driver Charles Collins example sold through Dix Noonan Webb, 28/06/2000, for £430.

Driver Charles Collins example sold through Dix Noonan Webb, 23/09/2011, for £2,500.

 

 

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Sunderland Daily Echo, 11th June 1901

 

ARRIVAL OF MAJOR VAUX.

The Reception in Sunderland Tomorrow.

GOLD MEDALS FOR THE MEN.

Major Ernest VAUX and his comrades of the local Maxim Detachment of the Imperial Yeomanry arrived at Southampton this morning in the transport Assaye, and left for the North about 10 o’clock. They will arrive in Newcastle this evening, probably about nine or ten o’clock. The exact hour of their reaching Sunderland was not definitely known at noon today, but, as there will be a fair amount of work to do at Newcastle, it is not expected they will be here until midday tomorrow. Under that assumption, AN OFFICIAL ORDER has been issued asking all members of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery who wish to join in the welcome to their comrades to proceed to the Central Station in uniform about that time. The band has been ordered to parade at 11 o’clock at the Drill Hall, The Green, to await orders. The arrangements, so far, are that the detachment shall be met at the station by the Mayor (Conn. Kirtley), as well as by the battalion, which will be under the command of Col. Vaux, who is at Harrogate, but is expected to return, or Lieut.-Col. Barker. The Yeomanry detachment will be marched with the battalion to the Drill Hall, The Green, where they will be formally welcomed home by the Mayor and the battalion, and they will then be disbanded. It is felt by the officers that the men have had enough of eating and drinking, and that their return should be marked by a more lasting token than a banquet. Accordingly, they have arranged that A GOLD MEDAL shall be presented to each of the detachment. It will be of appropriate design and will have a suitable inscription, showing the circumstances under which it is given. This medal is to be the gift of the officers. After the formal reception at the Drill Hall tomorrow, the men will go to their friends, but they will meet again on Sunday and attend a church parade at the Parish Church, Monkwearmouth, and after that the gold medals will be presented to them. On the evening of Wednesday the 19th (tomorrow week), the detachment, together with the Rifle Volunteers who arrived home previously, will attend at the Town Hall, where the Freedom of the Borough will be conferred upon them, and they will then be entertained to a banquet.

Full details of the Sunderland men Major VAUX has with him are not quite known. The men who went out with him were – Sergt. C. McDONALD; Bombardiers C. BOLDEN and J. GRAHAM; Drivers C. COLLINS, J. TWEDDLE, C. JOHNSON, and H. HUGGINS. McDONALD died the death of a hero at Rooidam, and leaves a gap in the detachment which all will regret. Bombardier GRAHAM was invalided home some considerable time since, but the others are all expected to be with Major VAUX, with the exception, perhaps, of HUGGINS, who is now understood to have left the detachment and to be sergeant in the Imperial Yeomanry. It is thought he may have remained in South Africa. It is also supposed that Corporal J.A. COGHLAN will accompany the detachment. There may be several other LOCAL MEN WHO WENT OUT apart from the detachment, because Major VAUX’s Company, which is the 15th of the Imperial Yeomanry, comprises 61 men, and amongst those from Sunderland who joined it are Messrs F.C. HUNTLY and Victor WILSON.

 

THE YEOMANRY RETURN.

PRESENTATION OF GOLD MEDALS.

Yesterday afternoon a thanksgiving service for the return from South Africa of Major VAUX and the other men of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery, who formed the Maxim gun detachment of the Imperial Yeomanry, was held at St Peter’s Church, Monkwearmouth. The officers and men of the Volunteer corps paraded at the Drill Hall, The Green, at two o’clock, mustering about 400. …….

 

 

Sunderland Daily Gazette, 14th June 1901

 

LOCAL YEOMEN’S MEDALS.

The seven medals which are to be presented to the local Maxim detachment of the Yeomanry have been made by Mr R.L. Rennison, of Bridge Street, and will be exhibited for a few hours in the window of his establishment tomorrow morning. They are of solid gold, and are in the shape of a plain shield of considerable thickness and neat and appropriate design. On the front at the top is the crest of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery, while below are the borough arms, having beneath the motto of the town, “Nil desperandum auspice Deo”. The one presented to Major Vaux has the following inscription on the back – “Presented to Major Vaux by the officers of the 1st Durham Volunteer Artillery as a souvenir of his services in South Africa, 1900-1901”. The others have similar inscriptions, with the name of the recipient.

 

Sunderland Daily Echo, 11th November 1901

 

THE LOCAL MAXIM DETACHMENT.