Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal, with bars for Transkei and Basutoland, awarded to Gunner J. Adams, 1900

Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria

Reverse, coat of arms of the Cape Colony

<- Previous | Next ->

Back to gallery page

Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal, 1900

The British colony on the Cape of Good Hope, now part of South Africa, was run by an independent administration with its own armed forces. Various risings by the African peoples of their territory resulted in a number of military actions which were thought to merit a medal for these troops, of which this was the second. The first had been the South Africa Medal for the campaign that brought the Basotho tribes under the governance of the Cape Colony.
The bars for Basutoland (now in Lesotho) and Transkei (now in South Africa) were awarded to participants in either of two campaigns against Chief Lerothodi, who had inherited the mantle of Basotho resistance to the encroachment of British rule from Moirosi, defeated in 1879.
This medal was awarded to Gunner J. Adams of the Cape Field Artillery; his name is listed in the Roll of recipients. Lester Watson bought it in the auction of the Hamilton Smith Collection, of which it may have formed part, in 1927 (Glendining, 21-22 Nov 1927).