Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Elandslaagte, Defence of Ladysmith (4682 Pte. I. W. Seager. Devon: Regt.) extremely fine £500-700

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2008.

I. W. Seager served with the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, in South Africa during the Boer War, and was mortally wounded in the action at Wagon Hill, Ladysmith, on 6 January 1900, dying three days later. He is commemorated on the Wagon Hill Memorial.

During the Defence of Ladysmith the Boers made a determined attempt to break the defences by attacking Wagon Hill on 6 January 1900. The Regiments defending the Hill had been hard pressed all day, and by late afternoon it was decided that a final attempt should be made to remove the enemy from the Hill before nightfall. 3 Companies of the Devonshire Regiment were sent to lend weight to the final effort. With bayonets fixed, they charged the Boer position, and put the enemy to flight. The capture of Wagon Hill cost the Devons three officers and 14 men killed, and one officer and 34 men wounded from a total of five officers and 184 other ranks who took part in the action. The Times History records the action ‘as a stirring fight full of dramatic intensity and breathless excitement, full too of the heroic tenacity of the two most stubborn breeds of mankind... The irresistible determination of the Devons will live long in the traditions of the British Army.’ For his gallantry in that attack, Lieutenant J. E. I. Masterson, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first V.C. awarded to the Regiment.

Sold with copied medal roll extract and other research.