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From: "William Jervois" <>
Subject: Re: Mashonaland 1890 Medal
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 08:26:09 +0000


Hello Rebekah

As far as I know, the earliest Mashonaland medal was that which was
issued to participants in the 1897 rebellion, and was awarded by the
British South Africa Company, which administered the territory until
1923. You can find a illustration and write-up on page 69 of the
1960 edition of Taprell Dorling's book "Ribbons and Medals",
published by George Philip & Son, Ltd., London.

The obverse bears a middle-aged image of Queen Victoria and the
reverse has a lion with an assegai plunged into his chest. The same
medal was earlier awarded in 1893 for the Matabeleland campaign and
in 1896 for Rhodesia. The ribbon is gold, with three vertical blue
stripes.

I seem to remember a story to the effect that a great number of
these were never issued and were kept in a Rhodesian government
store, from which they mysteriously disappeared in the late 1970's,
probably as loot by someone who didn't place much trust in the
government pension scheme!

with best wishes

William

------------------------
William Jervois Resident Genealogist, Albany Museum
Somerset Street, Grahamstown
6139
South Africa
Tel: 046 6622312 Fax: 046 6622398
e-mail: International Code: 27-46-
http://www.ru.ac.za/departments/am/geneal.htm

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