Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal (3833. Pte. J. Knight, Glouc: Regt.) minor edge bruise, toned, very fine £300-£400

J. Knight attested for the Gloucestershire Regiment and served with the 1st Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War. He was taken Prisoner of War at Farquhar’s Farm on 30 October 1899, when his Battalion got ahead of the main relief body of the relief of Ladysmith. He spent ten months as a Prisoner of War before being released., during which he suffered from bad or little food.

In England various charities were set up to raise money to purchase food parcels for British Troops and British Prisoners of War in South Africa. One such charity, ‘The Absent-Minded Beggar Fund’, raised money by the sale of memorabilia, one of the more iconic items being the Boer War handkerchief, depicting the Boer War on a map of South Africa, which was priced at 1 shilling sixpence.

Sold together with two framed ‘The Absent-Minded Beggar Fund’ handkerchiefs, each showing words by Rudyard Kipling and music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, together with a map of South Africa showing the principle settlements, and portraits of Queen Victoria and Field Marshal Lord Roberts, both mounted in glazed display frames, each measuring 500mm x 500mm; and copied research.