The National Scouts were mainly recruited from Boers who had surrendered to the British or chosen to fight for the imperial forces. QSAs were issued to the National Scouts and they are often appear as renamed medals. The QSAs are quite scarce as the recipients would not have been very eager to receive or hold on to a medal from their former enemies.
The City Coins catalogue No 51 says "Of the 1,750 turncoat Boers who served on the British side in the National Scouts, only about 10% claimed their medals and amongst those that survive many are defaced (eg unit erased). As 'Handsuppers' and 'Joiners' they were despised and ostracised by the 'Bitterinders' and their womenfolk. So much animosity abounded that a separate Afrikaan church, the 'Kruiskerk' was established shortly after the war to accommodate them".
This unit was similar to the Farmer's Guard.
Conan Doyle in his account of the last few months of the war makes mention of the National Scouts: "Colonel Park had had no great success in his last two expeditions, but on February 20th he made an admirable march, and fell upon a Boer laager which lay in placid security in the heart of the hills. One hundred and sixty-four prisoners, including many Boer officers, were the fruits of this success, in which the National Scouts, or 'tame Boers,' as they were familiarly called, played a prominent part."
