IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141248 accession number: CM.1154-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 15 January 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: The state of North Borneo, which is now part of the Malaysian state of Sabah, began independent existence as a United States possession leased from the Sultan of Brunei, and then passed through the hands of various trading companies, US, Austro-Hungarian and British, before the formation of the British North Borneo Co. in 1882. It became a British Protectorate in 1888. Under the company the terms of the lease were considerably expanded, and new settlement organisation and taxation systems emplaced. This, while boosting the country's productivity, also caused resentment among the local population. Datu Muhammad Salleh (Mat Salleh) became a figurehead of this opposition feeling, and the Company's burning of his village in 1897 failed to quell his increasing power. His destruction of the Company's harbour at Pulau Gaya in 1897 led to a more determined reprisal against his new fort of Ranau in 1898, after which Mat Salleh had to retreat into the hinterland. He was eventually killed in 1900. The bar to this medal indicates that it was awarded to participants in the expedition against Ranau. Forces in these actions were so small that only fifty-two of these medals were issued, and of these only five in silver, of which this unnamed example is one. Lester Watson purchased it from the London dealer Baldwin in 1933. title: British North Borneo Co. Medal: Punitive Expedition (1897) NOTES ----- type: history note value: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Baldwin 1933 LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Coins and Medals collection: Lester Watson Collection creditline: Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141248 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1898 - 1898 creation date earliest: 1898 creation date latest: 1898 CREATORS -------- maker: London maker: British North Borneo Company maker: Spink & Son DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 38.7 dimension: Weight units: g value: 55.78 EXHIBITIONS HISTORY ------------------- title: Images of Empire: The British Empire on 19th century medals CITATIONS -------- British Battles and Medals 7th edn British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals From the Collection of Lester Watson (d. 1959) --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 140 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 140 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 140 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 140 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 136 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 136 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 136 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0037_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 136 pixels