IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141305 accession number: CM.1211-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 15 January 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: Peace-keeping operations in the British possessions in Africa, as anywhere else, required a large number of small campaigns, several of which, from 1892 until 1900, were considered to merit this medal, which in terms of design is a continuation of the Ashantee War Medal. Recipients who held that medal already were therefore awarded only extra clasps. The coastal strip of what is now Kenya was in the 1880s part of a territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar known as Zanj. Its extent was settled by German and British treaty in 1886, but in 1890 the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty saw German interests in the area ceded wholly to Britain, and Zanzibar became a British protectorate that year. The Zanj was thereafter subsumed into the administration of British East Africa, which would later become modern Kenya. Until the opening of rail links, trade in this area had to be carried out by caravan, which was frequently subject to raiding by tribes from further inland. One such tribe was that of Chief Rashid of M'wele, and a quantity of British forces were occupied in suppressing his efforts between 1895 and 1896. The medal for this campaign is almost unique among British campaign medals as, although it is of the regular East & West Africa type, no bar was issued. Instead the campaign's identity was engraved at the top of the rim. This makes the medal impossible to distinguish from the Ashanti Medal when worn. This example was awarded to Able Bodied Seaman J. Duggan who served aboard HMS St George, which joined the campaign fresh from that on the Brass River. (Her complement later earnt another medal which has ended up in the Watson Collection.) Lester Watson purchased the medal from the London dealers Spink at some point before 1928. title: East and West Africa Medal (1887-1900) NOTES ----- type: history note value: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Spink before 1928 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/141305 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1892 - 1900 creation date earliest: 1892 creation date latest: 1900 CREATORS -------- maker: London maker: Wyon, Leonard Charles maker: Poynter, Edward John maker: Victoria (1837-1901) maker: Victoria regina DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 36.2 dimension: Weight units: g value: 35.01 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_0094_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 141 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 141 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 141 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 141 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 130 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 130 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 130 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0094_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 130 pixels