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Hi Justin.....

First of all the name of the unit was Strathcona's Horse, this is a common error.....

After the Boer War, the regiment boarded ship at Cape Town on 20 January 1901 and arrived in London on 14 February. Here they met Lord Strathcona for the first time and were presented their medals by King Edward VII personally. On its return to Canada on 9 March 1901, the regiment was disbanded. The name "Strathcona's Horse" was revived in 1909 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Rifles (which had been created in the Permanent Force in 1901) was renamed "Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians)". The word Lord was prepended to the regimental title in 1911.

The majority of the medals were named but as they only gave the mint about 18 hours from the arrival in England to the medal parade where they were presented some of that number were not.....

You can tell which is a first issue Strathcona Medal because again when impressing the medals there was a mistake, the apostrophy between the "a" and the "s" is upside down in the regimental name Strathcona's Horse.....

This is also why some of the medals bore the dated reverse, the mint did not have the chance to re-stamp them to remove the date but that is another topic here on the forum....

The medals had no bars on them and these were sent on later that is why you sometimes see medals without bars, bars missing or bars in the wrong order.....

I have three Strathcona's in my collection, Two raised dates and a ghost date.....

Mike

JustinLDavies wrote: Indeed (for LSH), at Buckingham Palace. I remember reading somewhere that they were issues un-named.

Mike,

Thanks. There are some good photographs in The Sphere of the Presentation of Colours that took place at the same time as the medal ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Best wishes,

Justin

Gentlemen
I think that the medal being "presented by the King" does add a certain something to it. I don't mean that value is added by the medal being handled by the Royal Presence; I mean that the presentation was part of the tapestry of military life in the Victorian/Edwardian era if one was fortunate and I am certain that the recipients valued their attendance at the presentation.
I have two QSA pairs where "presented by the King" is shown on records; one to Cpl. J.W.Campbell of 20th Coy.,I.Y.(he later went on to be commissioned in 2nd Scottish Horse and earned a KSA with 1902 bar only; his 1901 bar was for the QSA). Cpl. Campbell attended the 26th July, 1901 presentation. The other pair is an IGS Bar "Sikkim 1888" (marked "replacement")and QSA COT01 to Sgt. W. Walters Derbyshire Regt. Sgt. Walters was PoW- released, at Roodewal 07061900. Interestingly, Sgt. Walters' QSA roll is endorsed "presented by the King, 29/7/01".
For those forum members with access to "The Fifes in South Africa", appendix II pages 178-180 reproduces an article from the Dundee Advertiser of 27th July, 1901 regarding the presentation of medals on the previous day. "The medals were arranged in trays beside the platform in charge of men of the Grenadier Guards, each accompanied by an officer. One was handed to His Majesty who in turn presented it. It was a simple and in some respects almost a touching ceremony. The ceremony lasted for about two hours".
I could contrast the above with the arrival of my own medallic tributes from a grateful Nation in the mail - but I will not.
They did it so much better in 1901!!!!
Regards to all
IL.

Ian,

Thanks so much for your interesting contribution to this thread. I'll follow up on the 29th July presentation by the King - your man was obviously one of the militia men (the 4th Derbys) at Roodewaal.

Apart from that:

1. Having done a fair bit of ceremonial myself as a Grenadier I can only imagine the preparation needed to present 3000 Yeoman with their medals on Horse Guards and make sure they got the one named to them!

2. According to 'The Times' there were five military bands present and the presentation itself, with each medal being given by the King himself to 3000, took one and a half hours. Impressive.

3. I'll upload a picture from the Illustrated London News of the Yeomanry when my scanner has stopped showing Luddite tendencies.

4. Agree with you about modern medals. It's better now in the UK (viz Aghanistan presentations) but I make sure I keep the issuing slips, certificates and boxes for the un-named ones I was sent! (2002 Jubilee, UN, EU etc.).

Best, Justin

Justin
Thanks for the reply and info. Yes, Walters was with 4th Militia Bn and the 29th July presentation date does puzzle a bit. I like to think that he applied for a replacement for a lost IGS so he could wear it on the Big Day. Probably wrong - but a nice thought.
Kind regards
IL.

A few details of the presentation on 29 Jul 01, including the regiments present.