Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Transvaal (5871 Pte. A. Ackroyd, W. York: Regt.) edge nicks and small scratch to obverse field, very fine £120-£160

A. Ackroyd served with the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment in South Africa during the Boer War, and was killed in a railway accident at Pretoria on 7 June 1901: ‘A serious railway accident occurred on the morning of Friday 7th June in the vicinity of Pretoria, on the Pietersburg line. A train full of troops was run into by a train coming from the opposite direction. The latter travelling at some speed, was rounding a curve at the time, and it slammed into the troop train with great force. A number of trucks were smashed and nine soldiers were killed and several others injured. The first portion of the train had been stopped at the West Yorkshire’s camp at Daspoort, in order to pick up an escort. The men comprising it were being entrained by an armoured truck at the rear of the train, when suddenly the second portion of the train came round a sharp curve and dashing into the first section derailed a large number of trucks, killing nine men and injuring five others.’ (The Yorkshire Evening Post, 8 June 1901 refers).

Sold with copied medal roll and newspaper extracts.