China 1900, no clasp (J. T. Sippe, A.B., N.S. Wales Nav. Contgt.) nearly very fine £2,000-£3,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Ron Wright.

View
Collection

Only 257 medals were issued to the New South Wales Naval Contingent.

James Thomas Sippe embarked for China on 8 August 1900 aboard the S.S. Salamis, returning on 25 April the following year aboard S.S. Chingtu.

In June 1900, the British government sought permission from the Australian colonies to dispatch ships from the Australian Squadron to China. The colonies also offered to assist further, but as most of their troops were still engaged in South Africa, they had to rely on naval forces for manpower. The force dispatched was a modest one, with Britain accepting 200 men from Victoria, 260 from New South Wales and the South Australian ship HMCS Protector, under the command of Captain William Creswell. Most of these forces were made up of naval brigade reservists, who had been trained in both ship handling and soldiering to fulfil their coastal defence role. Amongst the naval contingent from New South Wales were 200 naval officers and sailors and 50 permanent soldiers headquartered at Victoria Barracks, Sydney who originally enlisted for the Second Boer War.

The contingents from New South Wales and Victoria sailed for China on 8 August 1900. Arriving in Tientsin, the Australians provided 300 men to an 8,000-strong multinational force tasked with capturing the Chinese forts at Pei Tang, which dominated a key railway. They arrived too late to take part in the battle, but were involved in the attack on the fortress at Pao-ting Fu, where the Chinese government was believed to have found asylum after Peking was captured by western forces, following which the New South Wales contingent undertook garrison duties in Peking. The naval brigades remained during the winter, somewhat unhappily performing policing and guard duties, as well as working as railwaymen and fire-fighters. They left China in March 1901, having played a minor role in a few offensives and punitive expeditions and in the restoration of civil order.