Brett Hendey

mdunster If you would like to know more about the Siege of Kimberley, I suggest to buy or borrow a copy of the following book: Kimberley. Siege Account & Medal Roll. by David J Biggins. Token Publishing. 2010. Regards Brett

Very interesting, Chris. This is the first I have read of the SAGI. I wonder if this is another obscure "collectibles" field and, if so, what besides ginger beer bottles are to be found? Regards Brett

My avatar is a Natal Carbineers helmet badge with a Queen's crown (i.e. Victorian) and it is of the type worn during the Boer War, but only on formal occasions. The Carbineers on active service wore soft hats with the left side turned up and attached to the crown with a smaller cap badge similar to the one in post #1, but without the "Royal" and with a slightly off-set Queen's Crown, which was replaced by a King's crown after Victoria's death. Brett

Graham Many thanks for clarifying the situation with the NF badges. As it turns out, the only correct badge, the officer's shoulder title, was acquired recently quite by chance. Unfortunately for me, the Tyneside Irish badge is one with a slider. I wont tell my son that his exciting discovery somewhere in rural Oxfordshire was not the genuine article! I will keep hunting for badges to add to Brewin's array. At least I now know what I need for the Northumberland Fusilers display. Regards Brett

'Boer War Memorabilia. The Collector's Guide' by Pieter Oosthuizen. The Alderman Press. 1987. The above book gives a very detailed illustrated account of its subject matter. It is an ideal collector's guide. Brett

In posts 163 and 341 of this thread, I have referred to Colonel B R Brewin MC, who briefly served as the CO of the 24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish), during World War I. I have Brewin's medals and, in such instances, I try to collect badges of the units in which the man served. The relevant NF badges for Brewin are shown below. He also served in the Royal Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery, Natal Police, Cape Police, Cape Mounted Police, West Riding Regiment, Royal Scots, Gloucestershire Regiment, Lancashire Fusiliers and Yorkshire Hussars. My collection of badges from these units is far from complete. I collected the Northumberland Fusiliers' badges in South Africa, while my younger son found the Tyneside Irish badge in an antique shop in England. Added to the display board is a photograph from John Sheen's 'Tyneside Irish' book (page 153), which shows a Fusilier Corporal wearing the Tyneside Irish badge on his collars. I realise that there should be two NY shoulder titles and that the badges may not be the type worn by officers. I would appreciate receiving comments on errors or misconceptions with this display. Brett

Mervyn Thank you for your kind comments. I suspect that a four-stripe Engineer would serve on any ship with a four-stripe Captain. It wouldn't do to have an Engineer seemingly outranking the ship's Captain. However, we need a navy expert to give a reliable answer. Regards Brett

Chief Engineer William Harding of the 'Queen Mary'.

Mervyn I have a particular interest in the Merchant Navy, especially because of the heroic wartime service of many merchant seamen, so I was pleased to see your WWI/WWII medal group. Shown below is another group to MN Engineer. The medals were awarded to Chief Engineer William Harding, who ended his career as Chief Engineer of the 'Queen Mary'. He retired and was awarded the OBE in 1951. He served in the Merchant Navy in WWI and was awarded the Mercantile Marine Medal and War Medal. Unfortunately, these medals are missing. During WWII he served on ships in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and this is reflected in the medals shown below. According to his family, he was on two ships that were torpedoed. Harding was born in Sierra Leone in 1888. He must have had some connection with Tanzania in order to have been awarded the Tanzania Independence Medal. He settled in Natal, where he died. Apart from the little information given above, I have not had Harding properly researched.

Mervyn Congratulations on acquiring an exceptional group of medals. Regards Brett

Mervyn I echo Paul's comments. You are very fortunate to have come across such an unusual combination of medals. I think that the pairing may well be unique. Regards Brett

Mervyn & Peter Many thanks for your comments and I take this opportunity of wishing you both a happy and healthy 2012. Regards Brett

Here is another page from the 'Illustrated Programme of the Royal Jubilee Procession', this one showing the position of the Natal contingent in the procession.

Shown here is a list of the men who represented Natal at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, together with a sketch of the Natal Cavalry contingent in the Jubilee procession. The sketch is from an 'Illustrated Programme of the Royal Jubilee Procession'.

On the British & Colonial Police Forces forum, Mervyn has posted an extremely rare Diamond Jubilee Pass issued to a policeman. By way of contrast, he mentioned that Jubilee medals awarded to policemen are not uncommon. Much less common are Jubilee medals awarded to the Colonial soldiers who took part in the Jubilee procession and the Bisley competition that took place as part of the Jubilee celebrations. Shown here is one such medal, which was awarded to Corporal I Poss of the Colony of Natal's Border Mounted Rifles, who was one of 17 men in the Natal Cavalry contingent in the Jubilee procession. Also shown is a photograph of a Natal Carbineer, who was a member of Natal's Bisley team. He is wearing his Jubilee medal on the right of his group, ahead of two campaign medals and a long service medal. Later, the order of wear of Jubilee and Coronation medals was changed and they now follow campaign medals.

In Post 163 of this thread I referred to Lieutenant-Colonel B R Brewin MC, who in 1917 briefly served as OC of the 24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish), before being relieved of command due to his "intemperance". At the time I offered a three page summary biography of Brewin to anyone who requested it by means of a pm. There were a couple of responses to this offer and I am now repeating it, because there have been some alterations and additions made to it. Regards Brett

Thanks for that further insight, Arthur. Perhaps the founding members of the Torch Commando shared the principles of the Truth Legion and derived the Commando's name from the central feature of the Legion's emblem? Regards Brett

Hi Bill You are not missing a point at all and it seems I may be mistaken. I was given one of these badges many years ago and was told that it had been worn by members of the Torch Commando. Perhaps the emblem was used by them because of the connection with Smuts, who was South Africa's Prime Minister during WWII and until 1948, when he lost power to the National Party. He was much admired by ex-servicemen. Regards Brett

This is the badge of the Torch Commando, a short-lived organisation of ex-servicemen founded after the Afrikaner National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948. The founder was Group Captain A G (Sailor) Malan DSO DFC, a RAF ace during the Battle of Britain. The National Party had started putting in place the foundation of 'apartheid' and the Torch Commando arranged rallies to oppose this policy. Brett

Mervyn That is an amazing group of medals and the combination must surely be unique. Thank you for showing it. Good luck with your research on the man and I will look forward to seeing the results. Regards Brett

Hi Demir It is good to see that you are still able to find items to add to your 'Turkish Brigade in Korea' collection. Regards Brett

In 1957, the Africana Museum inJohannesburg published a list of the medals in its collections and Malan's medals were included. This museum has been renamed MuseumAfrica and, as far I know, it still exists. Whether or not Malan's medals are still in its care is another question entirely. Brett

Mervyn I had no idea that such unusual relics of the Boer War existed. Thank you and Ray Leppan for showing them. Regards Brett

Megan That is good news! Thank you for sharing it. Regards Brett

Mervyn has already explained about those South Africans in North Africa who qualified for the Defence Medal. Many were in camp near Cairo and saw no action, but they were in an area subject to enemy air attack, so qualified that way. South Africans who served only in Ethiopia did not qualify and neither did those who served only in Italy. Some of these men added unnamed Defence Medals to their groups in the mistaken belief that they had earned it. Other South Africans with the Defence Medal in their groups were those who qualified through secondment to British forces. They were mainly naval men seconded to the Royal Navy, but there were also some airmen and army soldiers. I was told by a naval historian that those men seconded to the RN who did not get the Defence Medal usually had more active wars than those who did qualify. The reason for this is that the seconded men had to spend the 18 months qualifying period in onshore in Britain, whereas those without the Defence Medal were at sea and on 'active service' instead. Some of these seamen also added unnamed Defence Medals to their groups. Regards Brett