Orders, Decorations and Medals

An important Kaffir War medal awarded to General George MacKinnon, C.B., Divisional Commander and Colonel Comandant in British Kaffraria 1847-52, Colonel of The Cameronians 1862-99
South Africa 1834-53 (Geo. Mackinnon, Comg. a Division) edge bruise, otherwise nearly extremely fine £600-800

George Henry MacKinnon was born in 1806, the eldest son of Major-General Henry MacKinnon, who was killed in action at Ciudad Rodrigo on the 19th January 1812. He entered the army as 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade in June 1824, but shortly afterwards transferred as Lieutenant to the Grenadier Guards. In 1826 he accompanied his battalion to Lisbon, became Captain in 1828, and was appointed aide-de-camp to his uncle, Lieut-General Lord Aylmer, Governor in Chief and Commander of the Forces in British North America, in 1830. Obtaining his Lieut-Colonelcy in 1840, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope in July 1846, and was appointed Assistant Quarter Master General and Adjutant General to the Frontier by Sir Peregrine Maitland in January 1847. In the general orders of December that year, he was appointed Colonel on the Staff, as well as Commandant and Chief Commissioner of British Kaffraria. In 1848 he was made a Companion of the Bath for his services in the Kaffir War if 1846-47, and the local rank of Colonel in Kaffraria was also conferred on him in the same year.

The following tribute to this gallant officer is quoted from the Cape Frontier Times of December 1849: ‘The present Commandant of British Kaffraria is very highly spoken of in all quarters, as a man admirably adapted for the arduous and difficult office he fills. Simple in his habits, inflexible in his resolves, stern in his deportment, impartial in his administration, he seems qualified by nature to command respect from the savage tribes by whom he is surrounded.’

MacKinnon became full Colonel in 1851 and commanded the Second Division of the forces in the field in the Kaffir War of 1851-52. Becoming Major-General in 1858, he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Cameronians in 1862, which appointment he held until his death, became Lieut-General in 1865, and General in 1873. The gallant general died on 16 September 1899, and was buried by The Rev Donald MacKinnon, M.A., in Norwood Cemetery. He was “father” of the United Services Club and had long been known there as “The General.”