TOPIC:

I guess it that time of the year for the various forums to have the show and tell.
So I thought with the last big auction for the year over, it is appropriate to start it about now.

This year has been pretty lean for me in terms of my main theme of Sannah's Post, but in saying that, there have been a number of Q Battery medals available although not many to those that were actually there on the day. I was however able to expand by picking up a Roberts Horse and a 10th Hussar participant (both POW). But this learn year led me look for a sub theme and i settled on groups or singles to those with the title of Baron.
In that regard, a group came up early on in the year which fitted the bill nicely and that was the medal group to:

Lieut. Colonel Richard Thompson Lawley CB.
Richard Thompson Lawley was born on 21st August 1856 to Beilby Lawley, 4th Baron Wenlock and Lady Elizabeth (daughter of the 2nd Marquis of Westminster).
3 other siblings to hold the title, Sir Beilby Lawley, 3rd Baron Wenlock, Governor of Madras (1891-96) and 5th Baron Rev. Algernon Lawley. Another brother Sir Arthur Lawley CGSI, GCIE, KCMG was the 6th Baron. Lawley is known in Australia as having Mt Lawley named after him as Governor or Western Australia. During which he represented the colony at the inauguration of federation.
Richard attended Eton College (1870-74) but was not academically inclined however his sporting ability shone, among other things being cox of the Eton V111 as well as playing cricket for the Eton Ramblers.. His stature also made him a good rider to the extent that he, along with Thomas Hone, Captain (later Brigadier General) Malcolm Orme Little & John Watson representing the Hurlingham Club won the International Polo Cup in 1886.
After Eton, Richard attended Sandhurst and on gaining his Queens Commission in 1875 was to serve in the 7th Hussars.
He served throughout the Nile Expedition of 1884-85 with the Light Camel Regiment, in which the 7th Hussars detachment comprised three officers and 44 other ranks and took part in the operations of the Desert Column including the engagement at Abu Klea Wells, 16 and 17 February 1885.
After service in Egypt, Lawley served in the Boer War, sailing for the Cape on board the S.S. Templemore, and commanded the 7th Hussars in South Africa from 20 December 1901 to 22 January 1902, after which he commanded a column composed of the Queen’s Bays, 7th Hussars, two guns and a pom-pom from 39th R.F.A., formed at Winburg and operating towards Senekal from 23 January to 31 May 1902, to clear the country in that district of cattle and provisions.
He was present during operations in the Transvaal from March to 31 May 1902; Orange River Colony from January to March, and May 1902; Cape Colony from December 1901 to January 1902. He was mentioned in despatches London Gazette 17 June 1902 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath ‘in recognition of services during operations in South Africa’, London Gazette 26 June 1902. Following a posting at Aldershot, he retired on 2 November 1904. He was married in 1909 to Rhoda Edith, a daughter of Canon Knox-Little.
Richard was to succeed his brother Beilby as 4th Baron Wenlock in 1912.
Richard Baron Wenlock died on 25 July 1918 at his home at Hestercombe near Taunton, Devon, aged 61. He had no children so his younger brother, Rev. Algernon Lawley, became the 5th, Baron Wenlock.
A unique combination of awards to a Regimental Commander of the 7th Hussars.

Lovely medals Simon - I'm still working on my contribution to this thread - I don't want to sound "windgat" (South African fellas will know what that is...) but there have been quite a few good ones in 2023 - thanks, partially, to yourself who has parted with some gems of which I am the grateful beneficiary. Others have come from auction houses or from personal contacts who have approached me.

I'm compiling a short list - will report back soonest.

All the best

Rory

Good Morning Fomites......

I am sorry to say but I have had three what I consider Top of the line purchases this year..... I put them in order of Things that I have never seen before, Things that are unique or may be unique and Things that are not necessarily expensive but have great research potential and have a great story, I am sure that Rory can agree with the last..... I am going to post three (not all at the same time) from this fantastic year I hope you will kindly indulge me.....

Mike

Number one falls into the Unique and Interesting group.....

MCGLINN, EDWARD THOMAS

REG. NO.: NONE
RANK: SERGEANT
UNIT: ARMY POST OFFICE CORPS (AUSTRALIAN)
BARS: CAPE COLONY
KINGS SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL: SOUTH AFRICA 1901, SOUTH AFRICA 1902

NOTE: Only KSA issued to Australian Postal Service (attached Army Post Office Corps)


Taken from the New South Wales Government Gazette February 16, 1900 Issue No 144 page 1375

Postal and Electric Telegraph Department
General Post Office
Sydney, 23 January 1900

His Excellensey the Governor with the advise of the Executive Council, and uppon the recommendation of the Public Service Board, has been pleased to approve of the following transfers vis, ;---

Mr. A. J. Paine, Post and Telegraph Master, Smithtown, to be Operator Head Office, vise Taylor;

etc.

Mr. E. A. Stevens, Assistant, Bathurst, to be Booking Clerk, Head Office, vice Leaney;

Mr. E. T. McGlinn, Assistant, West Maitland to a similar position, Bathurst, vice; Stevens

etc.
W. P. CRICK


Taken from The Maitland Weekly Mercury, Saturday, May 12, 1900 page 4

MR. EDWARD THOMAS McGLINN

OFF TO SOUTH AFRICA

We learned that Mr. T. E. McGlinn, who has been for some years in the Head Office, Sydney, has been chosen by the Department as one of the four officers to be sent to South Africa from the General Post Office at the request of Imperial Authorities to deal with the enormous amount of Australian correspondence which has accumulated at the Cape.

These officers will be under control of the Imperial Authorities and will receive salaries of L 170 per annum and traveling expenses. The others selected are Messers Vindin, Davidson and Roseby. Mr. McGlinn who is a younger brother of Quartermaster J. P. McGlinn, of the Mounted Infantry, now at the front, has had several years experience in postal work, including a considerable period in the office at West Midland, and is regarded as a very smart and capable officer. His friends are delighted at his preferment.

Taken from The Maitland Weekly Mercury, Saturday, March 15, 1902 page 5

MR. E. T. McGLINN

Mr. E. T. McGlinn, one of the four officers sent to South Africa from the General Post Office, Sydney, about two years ago to deal with the Australian Correspondence at the Cape has been engaged up to a few months ago in the Australian section of the post office, Capetown. About last November he was offered and accepted an important position in the G.P.O. at Johannesburg. During his stay Mr. McGlinn has visited some of the principal cities of South Africa and met several old friends from the Maitland district. He is enjoying splendid health and is at present is relieving post-master at Standerton , 177 miles from Johannesburg and 64 from Natal the border. He has had great experience and is considered by the Department a very capable officer. His numerous friends in this district will be pleased to learn his worth has been appreciated as fully in the lad of his adoption as in that of his birth.

The Maitland Daily Mercury, Friday June 11, 1920 page 4

DEATH NOTICE

EDWARD THOMAS McGLINN

May 27th, 1920, at Bulawayo, South Africa, Edward Thomas McGlinn ( Mashonaland Railway Services ), second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. J. McGlinn, of West Maitland, aged 48 years. Served in the South African War, 1900-1902: European War ( France ), 1916 – 1918.
( By Cable ) 8057

The Maitland Daily Mercury, Friday, June 11, 1920 page 4

DEATH OF MR. EDWARD McGLINN

Brigadier-General J. P. McGlinn of Sydney rexeived a cable message from South Africa to-day announcing the sad news of the sudden death of his brother, Mr. Edward McGlinn at Bulawayo, on May 27th. The late Mr. McGlinn spent the greater part of his life in Maitland, and after leaving school entered the service of the postal department in West Maitland where he did duty for many years. In 1899 he was of a bunch of postal officials selected to proceed to South Africa during the Boer War to deal with the vast accumulation of mail matter for the Australian troops, and he remained in South Africa up till the time of his death, which was the result ot heart failure. In the late war he served with the South Africans. H was much esteemed by all who knew him. There are three brothers surviving – Brigadier-General McGlinn, Messrs Joe (Liverpool) and Les McGlinn, who is engaged in the goods shed at West Maitland, also three sisters, with whom much sympathy will be felt in their sad bereavement.

The Maitland Daily Mercury, Monday, April 24, 1916 page 4

LIEUT. JOE McGLINN

Lieut. Joe McGlinn, of the Australian Signaling Corps, who returned from Egypt recently after doing his little bit in the trenches at Gallipoli, and who was invalided owing to an attack of rheumatism, arrived on a visit to his relatives at Maitland on Saturday night, and intends returning to his home in Sydney this evening. Lieut. McGlinn is a native of Maitland and for many years was engaged in the local telegraph office. He has two brothers at the front – Colonel J. P. McGlinn and Sergeant E. T. McGlinn, the latter having enlisted in South Africa in the Rhodesian Infantry. Lieutenant McGlinn looks well, and is rapidly recovering from an illness which kept him in hospital for a considerable time in Egypt, after being four or five months in the trenches.

Taken from The 2nd Rhodesia Regiment in East Africa by Lieutenant Colonel A. E. Capell page 120

Nominal Roll:

No: Rank: Name: Attested: Remarks

606 Sgt McGlinn, Edward Thomas 3/11/14 Died

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A very interesting post
Baron Wenlock seems to have had an much earlier lineage as well as this one
Thanks
Clive

Well posted Mike
A very interesting research on an aspect that one might not immediately associate with a conflict, but a source of tremendous comfort to those involved at the front and a great thread on his life
Thanks
Clive

I was fortunate to acquire my top purchase just this week. It's a exceptionally fine Boer War ‘Casualty’ pair awarded to Private A. MacKay, Imperial Yeomanry, who was captured at Zwartzkopjefontein on 20 April 1900, released, and then witnessed extensive action at De La Reys Farm in December 1900 - which he documented in a fascinating letter to his nephew shortly thereafter. There were only ten or eleven men captured on that day.

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, with Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 clasps named to: 535 Pte. A. MacKay, 9th. Coy. 3rd. Imp: Yeo:
Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry Medal (Type I), 3rd Battalion, South Africa 1900-1901 named to: 535 A. Mackay
They are mounted as worn.

Andrew MacKay was born in Malham, near Skipton, Yorkshire, in 1866. He was a draper employed by the firm Baxter & MacKay. He attested at Sheffield for the Imperial Yeomanry on 8 January 1900 and served in South Africa from 28 January 1900 to 9 June 1901. He served with the 9th (Yorkshire Hussars) Company, 3rd Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, and was captured by the Boers on 20 April 1900. His Army Service Record adds that he was wounded on 21 April 1900. There is a contemporary newspaper report stating: ‘he was shot through the arm’. He was sent to the hospital in Waterval, and MacKay was one of three thousand prisoners released on 6 June 1900 by a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) commanded by Captain F. S. Maude.
He recovered from his wound, and returned to the fight as part of a column tasked with reinforcing Colonel Money at Ottoshoop. A copied letter dated 12 December 1900, from the recipient to his nephew, George, describes what happened:

‘We were the advance guard and that day I was Orderly for Captain Wombwell who was leading us. We didn’t get very far before we were into action and had to retire as the fire was too hot for us and we had no cover... Eventually we moved them out [from a very strong entrenched position on a high Kopje] but they cleared out into another Kopje about a mile in front of us and gave us a right royal salute from their Mausers. We got our guns, Pom Poms and Maxims into action which cleared them out over two hours shelling and rifle fire. They must have lost heavy as our Gunners had got the range to a few yards...

Next day we started at 4 a.m. and had not proceeded far before we were in action again and fought all the way within a couple of miles from here. We managed to kill General Lerner that day which I think will have a great effect on the Boers. 16 came in today and gave up their arms. The Boers fought well and came right out into the open, it is the first time that I have seen them do it but I think they are hungry and intended having the convoy but we kept them at bay.’

Proceeding to Litchenburg, MacKay faced peril once again - but not in consequence of bullet or shell, rather the burrowing habits of the native fauna. Tasked with an opportunist pursuit of the ‘wily Boer’, he was fortunate not to come to harm:

‘We got the order to gallop and we kept it up for about ten miles, many a poor fellow come a cropper as the ground was so very uneven and full of holes made by a small animal about the size of a squirrel (meerkat) but they burrow a hole much larger than a rabbit. I was one of the lucky ones as I managed to keep my horse on his feet but I have had many a nasty fall out here. When we got within 2 miles of the Laager, we could see them flying all over the veldt so we had to use the spurs to try and cut them off. When we got within about a thousand of them they gave us a right royal salute from their mausers...’

MacKay returned to England with his Squadron, and then re-enlisted with the 120th Company, Imperial Yeomanry, and returned to South Africa from 8 February 1902 to 10 July 1902. Later he married (Mary Jane Brown from Bleardale, Lancs, (1880), and they lived in a row house that still stands at 11 Gladstone St. in Skipton. They had two children: Paul 1904 (Engineers Apprentice – John Varley Engineer) and Kathleen 1905. MacKay was a Timber Merchant Clerk and worked for Alfred Green & Timber Merchant at the Midland Saw Mill in Skipton. He committed suicide in June 1926 by drinking a mug of tea laced with prussic acid (cyanide).