Orders, Decorations and Medals

British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, 1 clasp, Mashonaland 1890, reverse undated (Tpr. S. Bartlett, B.S.A.C.P.) very fine and scarce £600-700

Trooper Samuel J. Bartlett was a native of Kimberley and attested on 2 December 1889 as a very young man. His horse died a few days out from Kimberley en route for Macloutsie, and he marched the rest of the way. He served in B Troop in the Pioneer Column of 1890, and is said to have been the first sentry posted after the Occupation on the Kopje at Fort Salisbury. He was still serving in B Troop in September 1891, but was discharged on 14 October 1891. He died at Kimberley about 1940 (Ref Men Who Made Rhodesia). A total of only 200 medals were issued for Mashonaland 1890, including 111 to the British South Africa Company’s Police.