County: Selkirkshire
Issued on: Return
Dates of presentations: 30/11/1900, 27/09/1902
Number issued: 27 or 29
30/11/1900 presentation
6935 Private Robert WALKER
27/09/1902 presentation
7256 Private Thomas STODDART
8526 Private William YULE
8513 Private [Cyclist] John KEMP
29104 Trooper James GRAHAM
Presentation made by Mrs Russell (wife of the Provost), in the Market Place, Selkirk.
KNOWN EXAMPLES HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN
Type 1 (1900).
Reverse: "TO / [PTE JOHN STORRIE] / ON HIS RETURN / FROM ACTIVE SERVICE / IN SOUTH AFRICA / NOVEMBER 1900".
Type 2 (1902).
Private Screen example in the Constantine Collection (with silver watch).
Engraving on the inner cuvette of the watch presented to Private Screen
DINNER IN VICTORIA HALL.
On Friday night the ten men who have returned from active service, along with the ten men of the waiting or reserve company, were entertained to dinner in the Victoria Hall, the arrangements for which were carried out by a joint-committee of the Town Council and the Selkirk Company of Volunteers. The hall was gaily decorated with flags and other military emblems, while on the front of the gallery was a scroll with the inscription in large letters, “Welcome Home”. A large number of plants and cut flowers graced the platform and the tables, the plants being sent from Thornfield, Wellwood, Woodburn. There was an attendance of about 300, for whom accommodation was found at six tables. The Volunteer Company was present, being marched from their hall to the music of the pipes. Mr Dorn, Station Hotel, was the purveyor.
Provost Russell, who wore his chain of office, presided, and the vice-chairmen were Bailie Linton and Mr Pollock, Town Clerk. The Volunteers from the front occupied the places of honour to the right and left of the Chairman. …….
The Chairman was loudly cheered on rising to propose the toast of the evening, “The Selkirk Volunteers from South Africa”. He could have liked, he said, had the toast fallen into the hands of one more capable of doing it justice than himself. The return of the Volunteers from active service marked an epoch unique in the history of the burgh, in the history of the Volunteer movement, and in the history of the nation. (Cheers). The circumstances which called forth so great a display of loyalty twelve months ago were so well known to them all that a passing reference to them was quite sufficient. When non-success attended our arms in the opening months of the campaign, and when the difficulties of carrying on the war successfully appeared to be so great, the loyalty of the nation was stirred to its depths, and manifested itself in a variety of ways. Not the least of these ways was the loyalty shown by our Volunteer forces all over the country – (cheers) – and as they were all aware, the Volunteers of Selkirk were second to none in this respect. (Loud cheers). The chronicler of the Forest, who was with them that night, informed them that the men of Selkirk in their ancient records never appeared to greater advantage than when there was danger ahead and the scent of battle in the air. Each century had witnessed the good old burgh sending its quota of fighting men to some well-known battlefield, and today they were reaping the fruits of their bravery in the civil and religious liberties which they now enjoyed. (Cheers). Nor was the spirit of those bygone days dead in their midst today. The opening years of the century furnished a ready example. One night in February, 1804, at the time when the genius of Napoleon threatened to lay all of Europe, including their own beloved land, beneath the heel of a military despotism, trumpet and drum sounded through the streets of Selkirk, and the sleeping inhabitants were soon awake and in the streets. The Volunteers of those days lost no time, and by ten o’clock the next morning they had marched into Dalkeith, there to learn of “The False Alarm”. (Cheers). The Souters of those days, however, taking the will of the deed, accorded them a right hearty reception and a torchlight procession on their return, and now they were met, at almost the century’s close, to celebrate the safe return of those brave fellows whom that night they wished to honour. (Loud and prolonged cheering). It was no false alarm for them when nine or ten months ago they left Selkirk to the call of their country and at the call of duty. (Cheers). In the enthusiasm of their youth, in the strength of their manhood, they left their homes and their friends to face the unknown. (Renewed cheers). The change from the little town to an enemy’s country, of vast extent, and thousands of miles away, must have been sufficiently great, but who among them who had not experienced it could realise the danger of battle, the whizz of bullets from an unseen foe, and the horrors of war. Add to all that those dangers no less great, resulting from fatigue, exposure, and disease, and they might then begin to form some slight conception of what these lads had endured. (Cheers). They ought to be profoundly thankful that, with the exception of one of their number, who was still in South Africa, but who was shorty expected home, their gallant Volunteers had returned with their ranks unbroken. (Loud cheers). And now he would to give voice to what must be the feelings of every one present, and to welcome home their honoured guests to that “land of every land the pride”, and to that “spot of earth” which must to them be supremely blest. (Prolonged cheering). And he gave them a thrice-hearty welcome to that land, their country; and to that spot, their home. (Renewed cheers). Before submitting the toast, he had, in the name of the Town Council and the inhabitants of Selkirk, to ask the Volunteers from the front to accept at their hands a small memento, as some expression of their appreciation of their valour and the services which they had rendered in the days if their youth to their Queen and their country. (Great cheering, which continued some time). At the request of the Council, Mrs Russell – (cheers) – would pin on to the breasts of each of them a bronze medal, bearing on the one side the impress of the arms of the burgh, and on the other the following inscription: – “The Royal Burgh of Selkirk. To [here follows the name], on his return from active service in South Africa, November, 1900”. (Cheers).
The ten active service men then ascended the platform amid a scene of great enthusiasm, the large audience rising and cheering them with vigour for several minutes. They were accompanied by Major Alexander, Serg.-Major Adams, and Mrs Russell. They were drawn up in a line facing the audience, and as their names were called out by Serg.-Major Adams, each member of the gallant company stepped forward and was decorated with the medal by Mrs Russell. Each man was loudly cheered as he stepped forward to receive his well-earned medal, the gathering remaining standing all the time.
The ceremony over, the Chairman said – This toast must be drunk with all the enthusiasm of which we are capable, and I now give it you – “The Selkirk Volunteers from the Front”.
