Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Captain J. M. Middlemist, Deputy Inspector-General of the Gold Coast Constabulary, late Seaforth Highlanders, who, having assumed military command at Kumassi, died of injuries sustained in the famous defence of that place in 1900

Ashanti Star 1896; East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, 1897-98 (Capt. & Insptr., Seaforth Hdrs.); Jubilee 1897, together with related miniature dress medals (3), comprising Ashanti Star 1896, East and West Africa 1887-1900, clasp, ‘1897-98’ and Ashanti 1900, clasp, ‘Kumassi’, generally good very fine and rare (6) £1400-1600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals for the Ashanti 1895-96 Expedition.

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James M. Middlemist was originally commissioned into the 3rd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders in March 1888, and, having qualified as an Instructor in Musketry, was advanced to Lieutenant in March 1891. In the following year, as was quite common with officers of the Militia and Volunteer Force, he volunteered for an overseas posting, and gained an appointment as Adjutant of the Gold Coast Constabulary. From then until his death at the defence of Kumassi in May 1900, he remained similarly employed, although during the Ashanti operations of 1896, he was attached to the Sierra Leone Hausas and served with Baden-Powell at Beckwai. In the subsequent operations in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast in 1898, he was slightly wounded in the Karaga expedition and mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 7 March 1899).

Middlemist - who had been advanced to Deputy Inspector-General of the Gold Coast Constabulary in December 1898 - arrived at the fort at Kumassi on the evening of 18 April 1900, in response to an appeal for reinforcements from the Governor. With him he brought ‘about a hundred of his constabulary, plus carriers and servants’, in addition to Captains Marshall and Bishop, and Dr. Hay. No doubt on the orders of the Governor, whose wife Lady Hodgson was also in residence, Middlemist was quickly given overall military command, and, so empowered, opted for an offensive strategy. Thus, on 23 April, he despatched three columns from the fort to carry out attacks against the camps and villages of the rebels, two of them achieving their aims without serious opposition. But the third, under Captains Marshall and Bishop, with Dr. Hay, was ambushed at Ejissu, some ten miles from Kumassi, and by the time it had effected a “fighting retreat” back to the comparative safety of the fort, had sustained many casualties.

At this stage in the proceedings Middlemist realised that the Ashanti rebels were on the verge of closing the net around Kumassi, and, appreciating that the only possible way of protecting his European garrison, together with its loyal followers, was to retreat into the immediate environs of the fort, immediately set about moving everyone inside, in addition to establishing a line of picquets around its walls. And just a few hours after these defensive manoeuvres been completed - in the early morning of 25 April - the storm broke, a large and determined rebel force entering the town of Kumassi. A long day of ferocious fighting followed, during the course of which Middlemist had to recall his picquets into the safety of the fort, at which moment, those left outside - among them a large crowd of refugees - made a desperate dash for the gates, also intent on getting inside and away from the Ashantis. For some minutes a fierce melee erupted at the fort’s entrance and it was only by the liberal use of their carbine butts that the guard managed to beat the crowd back and close the gates. Middlemist was to the fore throughout, trying his best to restore order, but during the course of his exertions he was severely crushed by the gathered throng, sustaining internal injuries, and, as it transpired, these proved fatal, for he also went down with malaria a few days later, the added burden of which was too much for him. He died on 5 May and was buried in a small clump of trees a few yards north of the fort; sold with research.