Arthur R

Spot on, Mervyn. This was the SA Army flag from 1973 to 1994. The various versions of the flag are discussed on http://flagspot.net/...za-army.html

Tony, Mervyn, I think there's confusion between two units with fairly similar names. The 10th Mounted Rifles (1913-29) were the Botha Ruiters, an ACF unit based in Standerton in the Transvaal. Botha's Hogeveld Ruiters were a temporary WWI unit, established on 26 March 1915 and disbanded on 31 March 1917. Possibly some members came from the 10th MR (and perhaps the 9th MR (Hogeveld Ruiters) too). BHR evidently served in GSWA, as in 1926/27 they were ex post facto granted the battle honour 'South West Africa 1915'.

Indeed, Janssens was unlucky. He had to surrender the Cape of Good Hope to British forces in 1806, and then Java to British forces a few years later. The story goes that when he returned to Europe, Napoleon told him that he didn't expect his generals to keep surrendering! Thanks for the colour portrait of Janssens - there are engravings of it in various books but this is the first colour version that I've seen. IIRC, Janssens was involved in the creation of the Militaire Willemsorde and the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 1815, and was the first chancellor of the orders.

Mervyn Thanks for yet another fascinating story and picture. Just to add a South African perspective: the Cape Peninsula Urban Police established a Fingerprint Registry, headed by one Aubrey Edward Catherine, in May 1904. Natal also established one around that time, if not slightly earlier. Apparently the head of the Natal Police CID, Col William Clarke, had to struggle to obtain approval to set up the branch because the authorities thought that "there were not sufficient criminals in the colony to justify it" and "the colony was not advanced enough".

Mervyn Thanks for posting these groups. CSM Fann's is particularly nice, with all the additional items. The badge on the athletics medallions looks like that of Pietermaritzburg College. WO1 Rhodes' group is also interesting, with the Union Medal + clasp at the front of the row. As the medal was for 18 years service completed on or after 6 April 1952, it suggests that Rhodes didn't enlist in the Permanent Force before 6 April 1934. Interestingly, that's the year in which the SA Permanent Force Band (later Army Band) was formed. I wonder where he spent the six months required for the Defence Medal. Despite German and Italian minelayers mining South African waters, U-boats sinking ships off the coast, and Japanese aircraft flying over Durban, South Africa was not listed as one of the "closely threatened" territories qualifying for this medal. Perhaps he qualified in Egypt, where the 6th SA Armoured Division was formed and trained prior to deployment in Italy. The three badges across the top of the frame are (1) bandsman's trade badge; (2) warrant officer 1st class rank badge; (3) SAPF Band/SA Army Band cap badge.

AFAIK, as far as these two orders are concerned, the ribbon worn on the tunic is always 38mm irrespective of the width of the ribbon worn with the badge. There are then a dozen possible combinations of Bath and British Empire in those two ribbons: ~ GCB GBE or GCB KBE or GCB CBE or GCB OBE or GCB MBE ~ KCB KBE or KCB CBE or KCB OBE or KCB MBE ~ CB CBE or CB OBE or CB MBE GCB is probably too high for a major-general, but KCB is feasible for that rank. Are there any signs that a star was pinned to the pocket? If not, then perhaps one of the three CB combinations.

Interesting indeed. De Wet (from the Orange Free State) with the flag of the SA Republic (presumably - no colours indicated), and the words of the SAR national anthem in German rather than Dutch. I wonder if there was also one with Beyers' portrait and the OFS flag and anthem.

Hi Kevin The medal as a whole covered the period 1952-64. Evidently, the following clasps were issued: * Tunisie (1952-62) * Maroc (1953-62) * Algerie (1954-64) * Mauritanie (1957-60). You'll find lots of info (in French) at http://www.france-ph...com/accueil.htm

Another interesting piece of Africana you have there, Chris. Both generals were at the National Convention in 1908-09, and after the Union was formed in 1910, Botha was an MP and De la Rey was a senator, so they would have been in CT at the same time for annual sessions of parliament for a few years.

Perhaps it has something to do with HM conferring the OM on former prime minister Jean Chretien in 2009. Story at: http://www.cbc.ca/ca...tien-merit.html :

A nice piece of Africana you have there, Chris. "J. Rose Innes" and "Jessie Innes" would no doubt have been Sir James Rose Innes and his lady - he was the Chief Justice of South Africa at the time, and had earlier been a cabinet minister in the Cape Colony.

Hi Andrew, Local convicts. Apparently, having decided to use convict labour to build the roads, the Cape government arranged for sentences routinely to include hard labour. Hence the Afrikaans term for hard labour - 'hardepad' - the convicts were used to build hard roads! The scheme was the brainchild of the colonial secretary John Montagu. I see that Alf, who started this thread, lives in the town named after him. The UK government tried shipping its own convicts to the Cape, instead of to Australia, in 1849. That sparked off a public resistance campaign in Cape Town which brought the colonial government to its knees and forced the UK government to back down.

Mervyn, I'd go along with 1840s/50s. I've recently done some digging into Cape colonial police and prisons history, and learned that it was in the mid-1840s that the government decided to build a network of roads and mountain passes using convict labour. Convict stations were duly set up at the various places where these projects were carried out -- they were run by overseers with 'convict policemen' to control the prisoners. The convict stations were quite separate from the prisons/gaols, which were organised on a district basis, and run by the Rural Police under overall control of the district magistrates and district prison boards.

Interesting photo. If these are Zulu convicts, then the warders would no doubt be members of the Natal Police, which trebled-up as police force, regular army, and prisons service.

The date of institution is a bit fuzzy. The four service crosses (Army, Air Force, Navy, Mecical Service) formed part of an expansion of the military awards system that began in 1987, but for some reason, the warrants instituting them were not published in the Government Gazette. A later warrant, issued in 1993 to amend the criteria for award and authorise the post-nominal letters, was however gazetted, and it states that "whereas the Navy Cross has been instituted by virtue of a warrant dated at 11th day of April 1991", so I've taken that as the date. The crosses are supposed to be numbered. I don't know how many were awarded, but I doubt it was very many. There are photos of present and past SA military medals on the SA Army website : http://www.army.mil....medals/sadf.htm Photos can also be found on http://www.bidorbuy....taria_3701.html

The pattern of the flag is distinctive. AFAIK, the only Arabic-speaking countries with flags of that pattern are/were: - Iraq 1920-24 - Jordan 1928-date (but they have a star on the triangle) - Yemen 1967-date (but they also have a star on the triangle) - Sudan 1970-date.

Mervyn, 'Graf' is German for 'count' (or 'earl' in UK terminology). 'Duke' is 'Herzog'. The German system is somewhat different from the UK system, in that whereas in the UK only the current head of the family bears the title, in Germany all members share the title. I hadn't thought about the buttons. Enlarged to 200%, one of them looks vaguely like the Cape Colony coat of arms, which would have been a general service pattern, so no pointer to a specific unit there. The Cape Archives online catalogue yields nothing for him, but his name may perhaps lie buried in a nominal roll somewhere. Given that Colesberg is a long way from any town that had a volunteer corps in those days, but is very close to the OFS border, a local town guard-type unit might be a possibility.

Mervyn, Some more info about Arthur Green: born in Colesberg 3 Feb 1869; married Maria Louw 1906?; 5 children; died 27 Apr 1918. Father was Henry Green, British Resident in the Orange River Sovereignty (later Orange Free State), who married Count Carl von Lilienstein's daughter Ida. Henry has an entry in Wikipedia, also on a Green family website: Sources: http://archiver.root...6-01/1137483434 http://en.wikipedia....ish_Resident%29 http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/found-ida-carolina-von-lilienstein-wife-of-henry-green/ The question now is : what was his military unit? The photo shows two pips on each shoulder which could mean captain (up to 1902) or lieutenant (after 1902), but nary a sign of a unit badge. A town guard perhaps?

Megan, I found an article on this medal on the German Wikipedia. As far as my very inadequate German allows me to translate it, it appears that the medal was awarded to those who fought in the armed struggle of the German working classes against reactionaries and militarism, in the interests of peace, democracy and socialism, during the period 1918-23, or to those who had actively opposed World War I. They must also have displayed an anti-reactionary and anti-fascist attitude during the National Socialist period 1933-45. I'd say this was a belated campaign gong for the 'Spartacists' and other communist organisations which tried to seize power in the years following WW I, and who were put down by the Freikorps. The inscription on the obverse translates as "Fighter against Reaction 1918-1923", while the reverse translates as "For freedom, peace and socialism."

Hi Chris I should think the chances are very good that, as his previous service was in the RN, his SADF service was in the SAN. As a radio op he could have been at Simon's Town or even at Silvermine. Actually, over the course of at least twenty years, he may have been stationed at various places. Evidently he spent at least three months on the Border -- as his Pro Patria doesn't have a 'Cunene' clasp and looks like a fairly late issue with fixed suspender, his Border service was probably in the 1980s. This group must surely be unique, because of the combination of the (UK) General Service Medal + 'Malay Peninsula' clasp with SADF medals.

Actually, it's a disa flower, the flower symbol of the Cape of Good Hope.

Also warrant officers. As I recall, minis were automatically included in the box with medals issued to officers, and WOs could apply for them becuase they were entitled to wear mess dress. I know of at least one CF NCO who applied for and obtained minis even though he didn't have mess dress.

Very nice, Megan. Thanks for posting. Although the PMD was, in theory, open to all 'other ranks' from private up to warrant officer 1st class, in practice it was seldom, if ever, conferred on anyone below the rank of warrant officer. It was also seldom, if ever, conferred on anyone who didn't already hold the Pro Merito Medal (PMM) and the Military Merit Medal (MMM).

Strapper, Henk Loots published an article on this medal in Military Medal Society of SA Journal No 21 (March 1983), based on material found in the State Library [now National Library] in Pretoria. He doesn't give a medal roll, but perhaps some enquiries at the Library, or the Tshwane Metro (as successor to the old Pretoria City Council) might bear fruit. Apparently the medals were presented by the mayor at a ceremony on 4 August 1919, so newspaper reports of the time may be useful too.

Was the presidential guard definitely a separate unit? I was under the impression that the guard was drawn from the State Artillery. If so, and if this isn't the artillery version of the rifle, then it would point to this being a ZARP rifle.