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Auction archive: Lot number 227

An unusual Boer War C.B. pair awarded to

Estimate
£1,800 - £2,200
ca. US$2,907 - US$3,553
Price realised:
£1,650
ca. US$2,664
Auction archive: Lot number 227

An unusual Boer War C.B. pair awarded to

Estimate
£1,800 - £2,200
ca. US$2,907 - US$3,553
Price realised:
£1,650
ca. US$2,664
Beschreibung:

An unusual Boer War C.B. pair awarded to Honorary Major-General T. J. P. Evans, Royal Marine Light Infantry, who was decorated for his services as O.C. Troops and Commandant P.O.Ws on St. Helena, where he also acted as Governor for several months in 1901 The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with later swivel-ring suspension and riband buckle; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony (Lt. Colonel T. J. P. Evans, R.M.L.I.), good very fine (2) £1800-2200 Footnote C.B. London Gazette 26 June 1903. Thomas Julian Penrhys Evans was born in the Bombay Presidency in December 1854, the son of an Indian Army officer, and was originally commissioned in the Royal West Kents in April 1871, but later attended the R.N.C. Greenwich and transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Lieutenant in July 1874. Serving variously in the Chatham and Plymouth Divisions and, from time to time, at sea, he gained steady advancement, attaining the rank of Major in January 1891 and being given the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1898. As per his service record, Evans served in the Boer War ‘on Special Army Service’ from February 1900, when he was graded as Assistant Adjutant-General and acted as Commandant of P.O.Ws at Simonstown in South Africa, and afterwards as O.C. Troops and Commandant P.O.Ws on St. Helena, including a stint of service as Acting Governor of the latter place in April-August 1901. An excellent account of the P.O.W. camps in Simonstown and St. Helena appears in Bryon Farwell’s Prisoners of War from The Great Boer War: ‘At first they had been kept on board transports converted into prison ships and anchored in Simon’s Bay, where their health suffered from the close confinement. But the British soon abandoned the prison ships, concluding that the practise was an ‘expensive, unsatisfactory and troublesome experiment’. Conditions were much improved when the prisoners were moved ashore to the sports ground at Green Point (now a suburb of Cape Town) or to the camp established at Simonstown - although an outbreak of enteric fever there took an number of inmates’ lives including the charming and attractive Mary Kingsley, traveller and ethnologist, who had gone to South Africa to nurse Boer prisoners. The first overseas P.O.W. camp was established on the island of St. Helena when 514 Boers arrived on the Milwaukee on the 16 April 1900. The first prisoners were sent to Deadwood Camp, about 6 miles from Jamestown towards the eastern end of the island. An exception was made for Cronje and his wife (she was the only woman with the P.O.Ws) who were allowed to live under guard at Kent Cottage, 3 or 4 miles south west of Jamestown, and later at Longwood, which had been Napoleon’s home. A second camp was established on the island when quarrels broke out amongst the prisoners between the ‘irreconcilables’ and those who were willing to take the oath of allegiance and forget the war. This second camp for the ‘tame Boers’ was known as Deadwood No. 2 or the ‘Peace Camp’. Then there were further quarrels between Free Staters and Transvaalers and they had to be separated. So a third camp Broadbottom, was established about 5 miles away. St. Helena eventually held both the first and the last of the important Boer generals captured by the British, for besides Cronje it also held General Ben Viljoen, who was ambushed and captured near the end of the war. On the 25 February 1902 Viljoen arrived on St. Helena aboard the Britannic (Captain E J Smith). Prisoners had few complaints about their treatment while in British hands. Cronje was always shown great respect while a prisoner. Instructions were issued that he was to be styled ‘general’ and to receive the same courtesies as a ‘British general not in employ’. En route to St Helena on H.M.S. Doris Admiral Robert Harris gave up his cabin to Cronje and his wife. Commercial enterprise was not discouraged; there were camp canteens

Auction archive: Lot number 227
Auction:
Datum:
30 Mar 2011
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
Beschreibung:

An unusual Boer War C.B. pair awarded to Honorary Major-General T. J. P. Evans, Royal Marine Light Infantry, who was decorated for his services as O.C. Troops and Commandant P.O.Ws on St. Helena, where he also acted as Governor for several months in 1901 The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with later swivel-ring suspension and riband buckle; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony (Lt. Colonel T. J. P. Evans, R.M.L.I.), good very fine (2) £1800-2200 Footnote C.B. London Gazette 26 June 1903. Thomas Julian Penrhys Evans was born in the Bombay Presidency in December 1854, the son of an Indian Army officer, and was originally commissioned in the Royal West Kents in April 1871, but later attended the R.N.C. Greenwich and transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Lieutenant in July 1874. Serving variously in the Chatham and Plymouth Divisions and, from time to time, at sea, he gained steady advancement, attaining the rank of Major in January 1891 and being given the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1898. As per his service record, Evans served in the Boer War ‘on Special Army Service’ from February 1900, when he was graded as Assistant Adjutant-General and acted as Commandant of P.O.Ws at Simonstown in South Africa, and afterwards as O.C. Troops and Commandant P.O.Ws on St. Helena, including a stint of service as Acting Governor of the latter place in April-August 1901. An excellent account of the P.O.W. camps in Simonstown and St. Helena appears in Bryon Farwell’s Prisoners of War from The Great Boer War: ‘At first they had been kept on board transports converted into prison ships and anchored in Simon’s Bay, where their health suffered from the close confinement. But the British soon abandoned the prison ships, concluding that the practise was an ‘expensive, unsatisfactory and troublesome experiment’. Conditions were much improved when the prisoners were moved ashore to the sports ground at Green Point (now a suburb of Cape Town) or to the camp established at Simonstown - although an outbreak of enteric fever there took an number of inmates’ lives including the charming and attractive Mary Kingsley, traveller and ethnologist, who had gone to South Africa to nurse Boer prisoners. The first overseas P.O.W. camp was established on the island of St. Helena when 514 Boers arrived on the Milwaukee on the 16 April 1900. The first prisoners were sent to Deadwood Camp, about 6 miles from Jamestown towards the eastern end of the island. An exception was made for Cronje and his wife (she was the only woman with the P.O.Ws) who were allowed to live under guard at Kent Cottage, 3 or 4 miles south west of Jamestown, and later at Longwood, which had been Napoleon’s home. A second camp was established on the island when quarrels broke out amongst the prisoners between the ‘irreconcilables’ and those who were willing to take the oath of allegiance and forget the war. This second camp for the ‘tame Boers’ was known as Deadwood No. 2 or the ‘Peace Camp’. Then there were further quarrels between Free Staters and Transvaalers and they had to be separated. So a third camp Broadbottom, was established about 5 miles away. St. Helena eventually held both the first and the last of the important Boer generals captured by the British, for besides Cronje it also held General Ben Viljoen, who was ambushed and captured near the end of the war. On the 25 February 1902 Viljoen arrived on St. Helena aboard the Britannic (Captain E J Smith). Prisoners had few complaints about their treatment while in British hands. Cronje was always shown great respect while a prisoner. Instructions were issued that he was to be styled ‘general’ and to receive the same courtesies as a ‘British general not in employ’. En route to St Helena on H.M.S. Doris Admiral Robert Harris gave up his cabin to Cronje and his wife. Commercial enterprise was not discouraged; there were camp canteens

Auction archive: Lot number 227
Auction:
Datum:
30 Mar 2011
Auction house:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
United Kingdom
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
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