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Mint:
Birmingham
Issuer:
British South Africa Company
Artist:
Caton Woodville, R.
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
Ruler:
Victoria regina
(With the title of)
The British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes in an attempt to match the successes of the British East India Company from the base of the British Cape Colony (now South Africa) into the briefly-Portuguese territories to the north, an area soon known as Rhodesia. The Company, given a royal charter in 1889, recruited its own forces and from 1890 onwards significant engagements resulted in the award of this medal to those troops.
One of their opponents was Lobengula Kumalo, King of the Matabele, a Zulu people who had established a separate nation in the early nineteenth century. This nation became one of the BSAC's target territories and fear of the imminent colonisation led to attacks on Company territories in Bechuanaland (in the Cape Colony, now South Africa) in 1893. The attacks were met with Maxim guns and slaughter by the far better-equipped Company troops, although this did not prevent the Matabele from rising again in 1896.
The bar on this medal, which was awarded to Trooper M. E. Burns of the Bechuanaland Border Police, indicates participation in the 1893 campaign. Lester Watson purchased the medal at some point before 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.7 mm
Weight: 37.75 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
Production date: AD 1894
Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left with veil
Inscription present: Lion with spear in chest leaping over African native wargear, brush behind
Accession number: CM.1319-2009
Primary reference Number: 141413
Watson Catalogue: 224
Ordering: M-0202
Previous object number: LW.0202
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "British South Africa Company Medal (Matabeleland 1893)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141413 Accessed: 2024-12-22 10:38:29
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141413
|title=British South Africa Company Medal (Matabeleland 1893)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 10:38:29|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141413
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0202_281_29.jpg"
alt="British South Africa Company Medal (Matabeleland 1893)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">British South Africa Company Medal (Matabeleland 1893)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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