Granddaughtercuming

To all concerned, the full size medals were stolen in S.A in the 80's and we await confirmation of WHEN the miniatures were stolen from the wife of Colonel Cuming ( my mother's grandmother ) in what was then Rhodesia. As you can imagine it is a tad difficult to get information from there now. Old Contemptible , I believe there is legislation in South Africa with regards to stolen goods being bought by someone and this is being looked at by a lawyer in South Africa. Len's price of £400 was way above what we have been assured is a market value for these items, and as my mother informed him , to have to pay that kind of money for something that legally belongs to us is contemptible. We asked Len to provide the name of his seller who may be able to assist us with other items that were stolen at the same time, but he has declined to pass on this information. My mother is 81 and this has all been very distressing to her. She was delighted when we discovered her grandfather's medals were still in existence , and to think of Len's children holding on to my heritage is sickening. My own children should be able to look at what their fore father earned as an honourable member of the Kaffrarian Rifles. He was also awarded a CB . If you Google Colonel HB Cuming, you will be able to see part of his army career. You may even find a photograph of him seated with his soldiers, looking proud and serious. His son , my grandfather, served in Egypt during the 2nd World War and also did himself proud in the engineering dept. of the army, where he designed a small mobile fire engine. To Len these are pretty bits of collectible metal on some ribbon that a gentlemen earned, that have a monetary value to him. To me they are proof of where I come from. I feel incensed by all of this and believe with all my heart that they belong back in my family. It is good to know there are some people on this site that still believe in the old fashioned element of honour. This is how I imagine our fore fathers behaved, with honour.

Hello Mervyn and Len. Thank you Len for replying to my post. As I said in my email reply , I have forwarded the email to my Mum , who is the Grandaughter of Helier B. Cuming. I was with her on Saturday and we were searching for any information on Colonel Cuming. My Google search turned up Len's post about the medals, so I joined the group to be able to contact Len. We had given up hope of ever finding them. We were delighted to discover they were still around, because after the theft , we assumed that they , along with a quantity of jewellery had been sold and melted as scrap metal. Both the miniatures and the originals were stolen , but at different times I think, but my Mum ( Maggie Law) should be able to fill you in with more details. They were stolen in South Africa in the 1980's I think. We have photographs of Helier in his uniform and much information about his date and place of birth and life in the Kaffrarian army.. He was father to my mother's father. I'm sure she will contact you soon Len, you have my email address, but I added hers in my original message. Many thanks Gabrielle ( great granddaughter of HB Cuming )

I was astounded to come across this post about my grandfather's medals. They were stolen from the family in South Africa and we have been trying to track them down for years, and are so pleased you have been looking after them so well. We would be fascinated to know from whom you bought them, and where. We do hope to hear from you soon, sincerely Maggie Law (nee Cuming).