A rare 2-clasp British South Africa Company Medal, Boer War and Great War group of five awarded to Captain J. A. Fraser, South Africa Labour Corps, late Rhodesia Volunteer Forces and Imperial Guides

British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse Matabeleland 1893, 2 clasps, Rhodesia 1896, Mashonaland 1897 (Troopr. J. A. Fraser, Salisbury Horse); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 6 clasps, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek, South Africa 1901 (720 Tpr. J. A. Fraser, Natal Cbnrs.), and privately engraved after unit ‘Imperial Guides’; 1914-15 Star (Sjt. J. A. Fraser, 2nd S.A.H.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. A. Fraser), the second with unofficial rivets between second and third clasps, occasional edge bruising, generally very fine (5) £1500-1700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of British South Africa Company 1890-97 Medals.

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One of 87 such British South Africa Company Medals & clasps issued (British Battles & Medals refers).

John Alexander Fraser was born in Leith in April 1869, the son of a soldier in the 8th Hussars. Making his way to Cape Town, he is recorded as having joined the British South Africa Company’s Police in July 1891, shortly after which he joined the Posts & Telegraphs Department at Tuli, where he served as a Telegraphist until being transferred to the Africa Trans-Continental Telegraph Company (A.T.C.C.) in October 1895 - after having seen service as a Trooper in the Salisbury Horse in the 1893 Rebellion.

Further active service followed in the 1896 Rebellion, as a Lieutenant in the Salisbury Field Force, attached to Colonel Beal’s column, but he was invalided on sick leave to England that December - possibly as a result of wounds he had earlier received in the course of the second Chishawasha patrol on 23 July. But he was back in Rhodesia in time to qualify for the “Mashonland 1897” clasp for services as a Trooper in the Rhodesia Horse Volunteers, in which corps he was present in the Mount Darwin expedition.

Later that year, he rejoined the A.T.T.C., ‘to take up a contract on the Zambesi for Mr. Rhodes’, the line being advanced northwards from Inyanga until a crossing was made of the Zambesi at Tete. And Fraser remained similarly employed until dismissed from his post in May 1899, according to him on ‘false and unjust charges brought against him by Mr. Eyre, the Postmaster-General’. As it transpired, Fraser’s dispute with the A.T.T.C., a subsidiary of the British South Africa Company, continued until as late as 1912, when, with the direct help of Lord Lovat and the London courts, he appears to have been awarded £3500 in compensation.

Meanwhile, with the advent of hostilities in South Africa in October 1899, he enrolled in the Colonial Scouts, but later transferred to the Natal Carbineers, was present in the relief of Ladysmith operations and, from May 1900, served in a Special Service Squadron in the Imperial Guides - the aforementioned obituarist stating that he was also severely wounded.

In December 1915, Fraser enlisted in the 2nd South African Horse at Roberts Heights, saw action in German East Africa with ‘C’ Squadron and was advanced to Sergeant in January 1916. That June, however, as a result of several attacks of malaria, he was invalided from Kondoa to Wynberg, where he was honourably discharged March 1917. Nonetheless, a few weeks later he gained a commission in the South African Labour Corps, was embarked for France and joined 40th Company, S.A.L.C. at Rouen in May 1917. Remaining similarly employed until July 1918, he next joined ‘905 Area Employment Company’, on attachment to the British Labour Corps.

Returning to Rhodesia after the War, records indicate that Fraser went into farming, and in August 1927, he acquired full title to Mziti Farm at Nyabira, near Salisbury - a process assisted by the support of H. U. Moffat, shortly to become Premier. But in the course of visiting the U.K. in 1930, Fraser died suddenly in London, aged 61 years; sold with full research.