Miniature Medals

Pair: Sergeant David S. Fraser, Lumsden’s Horse, later War Correspondent for The Times during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (89 Sgt. D. S. Fraser, Lumsden’s Horse); Russo-Japanese War Medal 1904-05, the first with some edge bruises, otherwise very fine and better (2) £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to War Correspondents.

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David S. Fraser was born in Scotland and initially sought his fortune in India, where he joined the Bank of Bengal and also enlisted into the Oudh Light Horse. In January 1900 he volunteered for the fighting unit then being raised by Colonel Dugald M. Lumsden, commanding Officer of the Assam Valley Light Horse, for service in South Africa. Lumsden’s Horse, as the uint was titled, was quickly up to full strength of 15 officers and 235 men, David Fraser being made Paymaster Sergeant, no doubt because of his financial background.

Kitted out and mounted in India, Lumsden’s Horse arrived in South Africa on 16 March 1900, and were almost immediately deployed in the field. Their baptism of fire was at Houtnek on 30 April, when Fraser was with an advance guard under Lieutenant Charles Crane, late of the Behar Light Horse. The Boer fire was very heavy and the units were ordered to retire. This order did not reach Lieutenant Crane, however, and he with his men were overrun and taken prisoner.

Fraser and the other prisoners were taken by rail and wagon to Pretoria and turned over to the Z.A.R.P., the civil police. They were housed in Pretoria Goal for a few days and then at the Polo Grounds until the prison camp at Waterval, just outside Pretoria, was prepared. All prisoners were released when Pretoria subsequently surrendered and Fraser’s experiences as a prisoner are recorded in the History of Lumsden’s Horse, which also states that he had his horse shot under him, and was himself wounded in the thigh at Houtnek.

Fraser returned to India with Lumsden’s Horse in December 1900, and returned to his banking business. However, after a couple of years, he travelled to England with Colonel Lumsden where he was introduced to Lionel James, a correspondent for The Times of London. He accompanied James to the Far East as things werebeginning to heat up between Japan and Russia. James hired the S.S. Haimun, a small steamer, and equipped it with a wireless set to send despatches. Fraser erected an ariel mast and wireless base station on the British Protectorate at Wei-hai-wei with the help of the Royal Engineers posted there. Whilst James took the Haimun into the Yellow Sea, Fraser went to the 1st Japanese Army in Korea under General Kuroki. He was present at the battles of the Yalo River, Towan and Laoyung, being at the front for over seven months before he was returned to England. This was the first time that wireless was used by the media during a war and Fraser wrote a book A Modern Campaign or War and Wireless Telegraphy in the Far East in 1905 about his experiences.

Fraser wrote three more books: The Marches of Hindustan (1907) about his travels in Tibet, Trans-Himalayan India, Chinese Turkestan, Russian Turkestan and Persia; The Short Cut to India (1909) about his railway trip from Constantinople to India; and Persia and Turkey in Revolt (1910) about his experiences as The Times correspondent during the revolt. Sold with a considerable amount of research including verification of the Russo-Japanese War Medal.