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Item Ref# MS7438

 

The Absent Minded Beggar - Boer War

Brief description:  There are many different variations of this medallion. Known as the Boer War National Commemorative or Absent Minded Beggar (related to a poem) medallion. Many of these have an attached suspeension ring and privately engraved with the name of a British soldier.

The sentiment in Britain at the outset of the South African War was strongly in favour of the military action. Thousands of young men volunteered for service to “Queen and Empire”. Charities were set up to assist them and their families. The proceeds from the sale of this medal went to Daily Mail for the Kipling Poem War Fund which is reported to have received 70,000 pounds sterling in fourteen weeks.

The image of the British soldier on the obverse is from the illustration by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. (1856-1927) known as the “Gentleman in Kharki” and can be seen on a multitude of memorabilia from the period.

Material:   Silver
Manufacturer:   Spink & Son, London
Artist:   F. Bowcher
Circa:   1900
Dimensions:   tbc
Weight:   tbc
Inscription: 

 

Obverse:   Full figure of a British soldier with rifle at the ready standing on rocky ground, head bandaged and helmet at his feet. To the right: “1899- / 1900”.
Legend: “THE NATIONAL COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL”.

Reverse:   To the left, a flag pole with the Union flag wrapped around an ear of wheat entwined with the national flowers of England (rose), Scotland (thistle) and Ireland (shamrock).
To the right across: “THIS / MEDAL COM- / MEMORATES THE / MAGNIFICENT / RESPONSE OF / BRITAIN’S SONS / TO THE EMPIRE’S / CALL TO ARMS! / TRANSVAAL / WAR / 1899-1900”. Legend above and to the left: “THE QUEEN GOD BLESS HER”, and below: “DAILY MAIL KIPLING POEM”. The maker’s name: “SPINK / & SON” in small letters close to the rim on the left. 

 

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Gen Christiaan De Wet - A Mastermind 

 

General De Wet’s attempt to invade the Cape Colony in November 1900 was thwarted by an Orange River that was in flood. On 10 February 1901 he succeeded in crossing the Orange River into the Cape Colony, but was relentlessly pursued in what became known as the “third” or “great De Wet hunt”.

Driven against a full Brak River, he was forced to turn back, but owing to brilliant deceptive movements on his part, he was able to evade his 14 000 pursuers, and by 28 February he was back in the Orange free State, having covered some 1 300 km in 43 days.

He divided the Free State into seven military districts. On Christmas Day 1901, De Wet achieved one of his most audacious guerrilla successes by surprising and defeating a British force at Groenkop (near the present-day town of Kestell). The Boers stormed a British camp on the hill and overwhelmed the British force.

The British lost at least 57 killed, 84 wounded and more than 200 (including many wounded) taken prisoner, as well as large quantities of arms, ammunition and stores. De Wet’s losses amounted to 14 killed and 30 wounded.

Source: Boer Guerrilla and British Counterguerrilla Operations

Scripture

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Matthew 6:34

 

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