Beschreibung:

An important Defence of Mafeking pair to Captain H.C. Sandford, Indian Army, killed in action during the attack on Game Tree Fort at Mafeking INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Lieut., 1st Pjb. Infy.); QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Defence of Mafeking (Capt., Indian S.C.) toned, extremely fine (2) Footnote Captain Sandford was one of eighty officers and men who formed the storming party detailed to assault and capture the Boer position known as Game Tree Fort. For weeks volleys of rifle and artillery fire had poured down from this position on the besieged inhabitants of Mafeking, and it became imperative that it must at all hazards be silenced. The attack was set for the morning after Christmas Day, 1899. It began with an ineffective artillery barrage and at 5 am the whistle of the Armoured train sounded the signal for the advance. The men dashed forward in swift rushes, their officers well in front, with such spirit and gallantry that all who saw were filled with admiration. A few fell, but the losses were not heavy at this stage, despite the bullets which seemed to come at once from every quarter. Half the distance had been covered, when the men, by order, lay down to recover breath, and, as they lay, opened fire with their rifles. Then the order ‘Fix bayonets’ was given; the steel glinted in the rays of the early sun, and the prone figures rose as if by clockwork from the ground and swept with a cheer towards the fort, now only 300 yards away. Captain Sandford was one of the first to fall in this rush; in an instant he was hit twice; one wound through the spine was mortal, but he died calling his men to go forward, with his face to the foe. As the attack continued, so too did the casualties. Captain Fitzclarence Was down with a bullet through his thigh; Captain Vernon and Lieutenant Paton were both killed, together with 23 men, and over 30 more wounded. It was when he saw this useless sacrifice of life that Major Godley sent a message to headquarters by aide-de-camp, Captain Vernon, ‘Sir, the attack has been repulsed,’ he said, ‘and Major Godley does not think it worthwhile trying again.’ Nor was it. All that could be done was to send the ambulance to perform its grim duty. In describing the tragic affair, Mr. Angus Hamilton, in 'Black and White' said: ‘Indeed, from the armoured train it could be seen that the progress of the men towards the fort was like the Charge of the Six Hundred into the Valley of Death.’ Harry Coddington Sandford was the third and youngest son of Colonel Richard M.F. Sandford, Royal Engineers, and nephew of Ensign Daniel Augustus Sandford (see lot 156). Born on the 8th March 1869, he entered H.M.'s Service on the 27th July 1888 as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. Having volunteered for the Indian Service in November 1889, he was transferred to the 33rd Madras Infantry in August 1891, and in the winter of 1891-92 he served in command of a detachment in the operations carried out in the country to the north-east of Bhamo, and took part in the relief of Sadon (medal and clasp). He transferred to the 1st Punjab Infantry in July 1892, and in January 1897 he proceeded with his regiment to the Tochi Valley. On the outbreak of the Frontier War in the following summer, he accompanied the corps into the field, serving with it throughout the Tochi Campaign of 1897-98 (medal and clasp). On the outbreak of the Boer War he proceeded to South Africa for service with the Mounted Infantry and was attached to the Bechuanaland Protectorate Regiment. At the time of his death at Mafeking he was in his 31st year. Captain Sandford was one of only two Indian Army Officers to be killed in the Boer War.