Description
This medal was instituted by Queen Victoria on the 4 December 1900 at the request of the Cape of Good Hope authorities to mark several uprisings by tribes in the Transkei, Basutoland and Bechuanaland that had spanned the years 1880-1897.
The medal bears on the obverse the veiled and crowned Jubilee head of Queen Victoria by Sir Joseph Boehm with the legend ‘Victoria Regina et Imperatrix. The reverse has the arms of the Cape with the legend ‘Cape of Good Hope’. The ribbon is dark blue with a broad central buff-yellow stripe. It was intended the medal would be awarded with one or more of the three clasps marking the geographical areas of the conflict, however a small number were issued without a bar.
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History
Transkei. Awarded to all troops, mainly local units, employed in the field from the 13 September 1880 to the 15 May 1881 for operations in Griqualand East and Tembuland. The dispute stemmed from the natives taking up arms against settlers in the districts of Maclear, Matateile, Qumbu and Tsolo.
Basutoland. The clasp was awarded for operations from the 13 September 1880 to 27 April 1881 and stemmed from the order to hand in firearms. Some tribes complied and were then immediately attacked by their opponents. In September 1880 white officials were attacked and troops were mobilised to quell the fighting. Colonel Carrington and Brigadier-General Clarke undertook operations in the Mafeteng area and this concluded with an armistice in February 1881. Skirmishing continued for off and on for a number of years between 1882-1884 and eventually Basutoland was declared a Crown Colony in March 1884.
Bechuanaland. This clasp was awarded to the troops for operations which spanned the 24 December 1896 to the 30 July 1897. This uprising stemmed from an edict to slaughter native livestock to prevent the spread of virulent cattle disease in April 1896. The revolt rapidly gathered alarming momentum and the local troops under Lt Colonel Dalgety were hard pressed to contain the uprising. A large force was required to subdue the fighting and troops and volunteers were mobilized for the Bechuanaland Field Force. Actions were fought at Gamasep Kloof, Riet Kloof and finally at Langberg on the 30 Jul - 1 Aug 1897 before peace was restored.
Medals issued
In total 5,154 medals were awarded to a variety of locally raised, mainly Cape units and in many cases the awards to individual units is extremely small. No Imperial troops were involved in strength, although 22 awards were made to British units, 12 to the 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, one to the 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and two to the 7th Hussars.
In the table below, it is possible to link from each recipient to information about their unit. Note that most of these links will not be successful as there is only information for those units that operated during the Boer War.
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