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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

TCMG b/b s/g with ribbon buckle;
Egypt (0) dated reverse (Lieut. R. C. Sparkes. R.N. H.M.S. “Iris”.);
QSA (0) (Capt. R. C. Sparkes. R.N. H.M.S. Forte);
AGS 1902 (1) Gambia (Capt: R. C. Sparkes, R.N. H.M.S. Forte);
Khedive’s Star, dated 1882

Noonan's say 80 ‘Gambia’ clasps were awarded to the Royal Navy, 29 of them to HMS Forte.

CMG London Gazette 5 November 1901: ‘In recognition of service rendered in connection with the Gambia Expedition.’

Robert Copland-Sparkes was born on 20 November 1851, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in January 1866. His first seagoing appointment was in H.M.S. Liffey, in which he was appointed Midshipman in April 1868.
He subsequently specialised in gunnery, gaining advancement to Lieutenant in January 1877, and was present in the operations off Egypt in the cruiser Iris in 1882. Then, following his advancement to Commander in June 1891, he commanded the cruiser Edgar on the China station, his service record noting that in April 1898 he received Their Lordships approval ‘for the manner in which the operations against the Thalis were conducted by the officers and men under his command.’

Having then been promoted to Captain in June 1898, Sparkes assumed command of the cruiser Forte, in which he carried out patrols off South Africa in 1899-1900. In December of the latter year, however, Forte departed for the Gambia, where an expedition was being raised to avenge the murder of two travelling commissioners and six constables. On arrival, and with the assistance of the gunboats Thrush and Dwarf, Sparkes raised and commanded a Naval Brigade. Thence, working in liaison with a military force under Lieutenant-Colonel H. E. J. Blake, CB, DSO, RA, he advanced to within eight miles of Dumbutu, the town from which the culprits emanated. The bluejackets subsequently took the inhabitants by surprise and, under a heavy fire, stormed the town and stockade. Two rebel headmen and 60 followers were killed and 200 captured. Mission accomplished, Sparkes and his bluejackets returned to Bathurst and rejoined their ships.

In July 1901, the Colonial Office informed the Admiralty that the Governor of the Gold Coast had mentioned Sparkes in his despatch, ‘for he had been most anxious to render every assistance in his power and had cordially cooperated with Lieutenant-Colonel Blake’. His service record states that ‘he had been engaged in operations with the Gambia Expeditionary Force and had been favourably mentioned in despatches therewith and made CMG for these services.’ Sparkes also appears to have made his mark in helping to suppress a mutiny in the ranks of the West African Regiment or so states an expression of thanks received by the Admiralty in April 1901.

Placed on half-pay on departing the Forte in June 1902, he retired at his own request at the year’s end. Advanced to Rear-Admiral (Retd.) in December 1907, Copland-Sparkes died at Shamley Green, Surrey in July 1924.