TOPIC:

Just thought I would update this thread.
Thanks to Adrians help a friend of his has kindly sourced more information for me.
"I echo Adrian’s comment about this being a “nice little pair.” It is very “dinky” as we say here.

To begin with a small correction to Adrian’s comment about the (F) on the medal. (F) denotes Foot Police – the recipient being mustered as a “foot” policeman as opposed to him part of the mounted division, in which instance the letter (M) appears after the recipients police number. I have never seen a small (f) on the Police Good Service Medal we are discussing

Females were only admitted to the SA Police in the early 1970’s so for the period that this long service medal was extant, there were no female members of the force. From the time of their admission to the force in the 70’s the letter (f) appeared behind their rank in order to indicate that they were female as opposed to male members of the force. [Const.(f) as opposed to simply Const.]

There were three versions of the Police Good Service Medal, the difference being in the “language” used on the obverse and reverse of the medal. The first striking (1923 to 1931) had the words POLITIE DIENST on the front, the second (1932 to 1951) had the words POLIESIE DIENS and the third, (1952 to 1963) the words POLISIE DIENS. The version you have is the rarest of the three. There were 11500 odd PGSM’s awarded and although the second is acknowledged to be the rarest there has to date never been any trace of records indicating what quantities of each were awarded.

His number indicates that he joined the SA Police during the course of 1914. His medal was awarded in 1932 and he was stationed on the Witwatersrand in 1932 when his medal was awarded.

I am in Malawi at present so unfortunately I don’t have any of my registers with me to find any other details. I will add your mans’ name to my list of items to attend to when I am back in SA but that will only be around August. There will be a record card for him at the Police archives but that is unfortunately about all. There are no personal files available for men prior to the 1960’s.

With your man having served with the Farmers Guard and the Colonial Scouts it is most likely that he was a Boer who either surrendered and took the oath of allegiance or just took the oath of allegiance without actually fighting on the Boer side.

The Farmers Guard actually fell under the authority of the South African Constabulary and its officer component consisted of Constabulary Officers. The FG consisted mainly of around 1000 farmers (and a few ex Boer combatants) from the Bloemfontein area that were considered loyal to the British. They were gathered together and formed into the FG in order to protect their farms and the outlying areas around Bloemfontein. They lived in small posts ahead of the main military outposts. They stood-to when the Boers were near, and cultivated their lands when there was no danger.

It would have been super if your mans’ QSA had of been issued off the FG Roll as FG QSA’s are quite difficult to find. However the C.F.F is also a desirable unit.

You mention him having served with the FG and the CS. Do you have copies of the FG medal roll pages? I see there were two men with the initial J on the FG roll, one with number 416 and the other 504. No 504 is shown as having served as a Trooper, No 675, in Driscoll’s Scouts. ??

There are only three Labuschagnes in the FG and all three were in what was known as “A” Farmers Guard.

Labuschagne J 3/Tpr 416
Labuschagne J 3/Tpr 504
Labuschagne L 3/Tpr 503

There were three grades of troopers in the FG and both “J’s”were 3rd class Troopers.

Their terms of agreement as third class trooper meant that they:-
1. Were to receive pay and preference in the distribution of land under arrangements made by the D.A.
2. Were to assemble at a given post at a preconcerted signal.
3. Would receive arms, ammunition and orders at that point.
4. Were to take part in operations in the vicinity of their dwellings when the District Commissioner considered it necessary to call them out.
5. Would receive no pay or rations from the SAC.
6. Were to provide themselves with uniform, horse and saddle
The third grade of trooper was composed of would-be settlers- in other words those wanting to settle on the land after the war.

Well for now that’s about all I can help you with from up here I am afraid. I trust it has been helpful. Maybe you’d like to post some on the above information on the Anglo Boer Forum – in particular the snippet about the “F.” It may just clear things up for others."

Again many thanks to Adrian for putting me in contact.

Paul

Hello Paul,

Great news and an equally great result. I knew that Terence would come up with some worthwhile info.

I must admit that I certainly did not know that females where only admitted into the SAP in the early 70's. As they say, we learn something new every day !!

Excellent

Regards
Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Pleased that you also acquired new information
Thanks again for the introduction, Terence sounds like a true Gentleman.

Paul

capepolice wrote: Hello Paul,

Great news and an equally great result. I knew that Terence would come up with some worthwhile info.

I must admit that I certainly did not know that females where only admitted into the SAP in the early 70's. As they say, we learn something new every day !!

Excellent

Regards
Adrian

Hello Paul,
I missed this, you should check WO126/30 for this man, any service in the Colonial Scouts will be found there, if his paper has survived.
Regards Frank

Morning Frank,
Thank you.

Paul

Hello Paul,
I missed your original post, but, I think it's a really nice pair, a QSA to a fellow who actually served in the "Farmer's Guard" is a nice thing to have, no matter how it is named, most named to this unit went back from whence they came, although, a number have survived and have found their way back and exist in collections today, but, even these command a high price, but, medals actually issued are very scarce indeed.
Glad you found them, not common today!
Kind regards Frank