Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Major J. Gifford, Labour Corps, late South African Defence Force

1914-15 Star (Major, S.A.S.C.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (Major); Jubilee 1935; Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration, G.V.R., the reverse officially inscribed, ‘Major J. Gifford, Rtd. List, U.D.F.’ good very fine (5) £180-220

John Gifford, who was born in Scotland in May 1864, may have seen service in the Boer War with the 19th (Lothians & Berwickshire) Imperial Yeomanry. Having afterwards settled in South Africa , he joined the local volunteer forces and was a Major by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Gifford commenced his wartime career in the German South-West Africa operations of 1914-15, when he established a base at De-Aar and fought with the Sourthern Force under Deventer, services that won him a ‘mention’ (London Gazette 22 August 1918 refers). Applying to the British Army at the end of 1915, he was granted a temporary commission in the Scottish Rifles, but transferred to the K.O.Y.L.I. in April 1916, and to the Labour Corps in January 1918. He was finally released in January 1920.