Three: Private J. Watson, Highland Light Infantry

India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (No. 3706. Lce. Corpl. J. Watson 2nd. High. L.I.) renamed; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Wittebergen, Transvaal (3706 Pte. J. Watson, 1st. Highland Lt. Infy.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (3706 Pte. J. Watson. Highland L.I.); together with a ‘Majuba Wiped Out’ patriotic badge, 17mm, silver (hallmarks for Birmingham 1899) and enamel, traces of lacquer, very fine and better, the Majuba wiped out badge very rare (4) £300-£400

John Watson was born in Dundee in 1872 and attested for the Highland Light Infantry on 5 August 1890. He served with the 2nd Battalion in India from 16 September 1892 to 23 March 1898, and was present during the operations on the North West Frontier of India, and the Malakand Operations in 1897-98, taking part in the attack on Buner and the capture of the Tanga Pass. He saw further service with the 1st Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War from 23 October 1899 to 27 August 1902, and was finally discharged on 31 August 1902.

Note: During the Second Boer War, ‘Remember Majuba’ was a rallying cry of British soldiers. It referred to the British defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 during the First Boer War. Exactly 19 years later, on 27 February 1900, General Piet Cronje and 4,000 of his men surrendered after the British victory at Paardeberg. In Kipling’s poem, ‘The Absent-Minded Beggar’, there is a line that reads: ‘He is out on active service, wiping something off the slate’, hence the feeling that after Paardeberg the shame of Majuba had been wiped out, and British pride had been restored.

Sold with copied record of service and other research.