County: Yorkshire
Issued on: Return
Dates of presentations: 05/09/1901, 00/10/1902, 13/02/1903
Number issued: c. 1,625
MUCH MORE WORK TO BE DONE HERE
05/09/1901 presentation
Imperial Yeomanry –
774 Yorkshire members of the Imperial Yeomanry.
October 1902 presentation
Imperial Yeomanry –
c. 775 members of the "1901 contingent of the Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry, comprising the 9th, 11th, 66th, 109th, and 111th squadrons, who have lately returned from South Africa".
The presentation was to take place at the Headquarters of the Yorkshire Dragoons, Doncaster "where the contingent, consisting of 775 men, was raised".
13/02/1903 presentation
Sheffield squadron, Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry –
74 yeomen
Presentation made by Earl Fitzwilliam at the HQ of the Sheffield Squadron, Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons, Brunswick Street, Sheffield.
Full list of February 1903 recipients appears in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28/01/1903 & 14/02/1903.
Trooper G. SIMMONITE is missing from the list, due to his having settled in South Africa. Medal given to his parents.
Inscribed with the recipient's name (on the edge).
Medal inscribed (as reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph): "Imperial, Yorkshire, (3) Yeomanry; 1900 - South Africa – 1901 / A tribute from Yorkshire".
"The medals are very pretty. On one side are the Prince of Wales's feathers, surmounting the words 'Imperial, Yorkshire, (3) Yeomanry; 1900 - South Africa - 1901'. On the reverse side are the words, 'A tribute from Yorkshire ', above which appear a crown and white rose, the whole being surrounded by a wreath".
An article in the Yorkshire Evening Post (30/03/1904) suggests that the medal was issued without a ribbon: "I would like to know through the Yorkshire Evening Post if we can wear the Yorkshire County Medal along with the others we got for the war, and also if there could not be some kind of ribbon worn with it".
Distributions.
9th (Yorkshire Hussars) Company [336]
10th Company [259]
11th (Yorkshire Dragoons) Company [293]
12th Company [279]
66th (Yorkshire) Composite Company [148]
109th Company [176]
111th Company [133]
A covering letter enclosed with one of the 1902 tributes suggests that medals were sent to recipients by post. This would explain why no report of the proposed October 1902 presentation has come to light.
Covering letter enclosed with the medal sent to 26765 Pte E. H. Charlton 9th (Yorkshire Hussars) Company, 3rd Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (with thanks to Paul Dunn).
He served in South Africa from 23rd March 1901 to 23 August 1902.
The portrait was purchased with Booth's Doncaster tribute medal. Sadly this has become separated from his Yorkshire medal and QSA.
Reports in the press at the time suggest that the Yorkshire medal was issued without a ribbon: "I would like to know through the Yorkshire Evening Post if we can wear the Yorkshire County Medal along with the others we got for the war, and also if there could not be some kind of ribbon worn with it" (Yorkshire Evening Post, 30/03/1904).
The photograph of Trooper Booth shows a very pale ribbon without stripes, which I assume was yellow (the same as the IY LS & GC ribbon). The contemporary date of Booth's portrait suggests that he considered this the "correct" colour at the time. However, the blue & yellow Cape of Good Hope GS ribbon is often seen with the medal today. Perhaps, without an officially sanctioned ribbon, individuals wore which ever colour they preferred.