Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Trumpeter F. Y. Garrard, 14th Hussars

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Defence of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Transvaal (3609 Tptr., 14th Hussars); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (3609 Tptr., 14th Hussars); Mayor of Kimberley’s Star 1899-1900, hallmark letter ‘d’, this last with replacement suspension, generally good very fine (3) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to Trumpeters from the Collection of Roderick Cassidy.

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Frank Yule Garrard was born at Newington, Surrey and enlisted in the 14th Hussars in December 1896, aged 14 years. Appointed Bandsman in April 1898 and a Trumpeter in August 1899, he witnessed active service out in South Africa between 22 December of the latter year until the end of hostilities, the official medal roll confirming his entitlement to the above described Queen’s South Africe Medal with four clasps, but his service record noting his entitlement to a clasp for the Relief of Kimberley rather than one for the Defence. Garrard was discharged in September 1904, his character assessment including, unusually, the statement ‘an excellent soldier before the enemy’.

N.B. Accompanying research observes, given his known date of arrival in South Africa as 22 December 1899, that the recipient must have joined the garrison at Kimberley while the siege was in progress, an unlikely undertaking for a lone Trumpeter of the 14th Hussars, so, if the official roll is right - and intriguingly Garrard’s name appears with a handful of others “out of place” at the end of the first section of the regimental roll - he was presumably attached, in one capacity or another, to a Colonial unit. Intriguingly, too, the combination of a “Defence of Kimberley” clasp with those for “Paardeberg” and “Driefontein” matches perfectly those awarded to the 36 men recruited by Rimington’s Guides on 16-17 February 1900, immediately after the siege. A seemingly quite unique award to the 14th Hussars and well worthy of further research.