Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria. Including a superb collection of medals to the King’s German Legion, Police Medals from the Collection of John Tamplin and a small collection of medals to the Irish Guards

Five: Lieutenant G. W. Rowley, Cape Cyclist Corps, late 9th South African Infantry, 2nd Battalion, Cape Corps and The Cape Town Highlanders

Cape of Good Hope General Service 1880-97, 1 clasp, Bechuanaland (433 Pte., C.T. Highdrs.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony (Lieut., Cape Tn. Highrs.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lt., Cape Tn. Hdrs.); British War and Bi-lingual Victory Medals (Lt.) light contact marks and edge bruising, generally good very fine (5) £220-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Gordon Highlanders and Associated Units from the Collection of A.J. Henderson.

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George William Rowley, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, about 1877, and by profession a press photographer from Sea Point, Cape Town, served as a Private in the Cape Town Highlanders in the Bechuanaland operations of December 1896 to July 1897, prior to being appointed a Lieutenant in the same regiment in the Boer War. And although he resigned his commission in late 1902, he was present at a Cape Town Highlanders’ parade on 26 March 1904 to receive his Queen’s and King’s South Africa Medals.

Re-enlisting as a Private in the 9th South African Infantry (Sportsmen’s) Battalion in December 1915, he served in German East Africa between February 1916 and February 1917, when he was granted recuperative leave for three months, possibly as a result of wounds. He was next commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Cape Corps, in May 1917, and would appear to have served in Central Africa from August of that year until returning to Kimberley, via Bena, in August 1918. Latterly posted to the Cape Cyclist Corps, Rowley was finally released in March 1919.