Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

Three: Corporal Tiramanja, Central Africa Rifles

East and West Africa 1887-1900, without clasp (Pte. Tirimanya, 1/C. Afr. R., Presented by the King) officially engraved naming; Ashanti 1900, 1 clasp, Kumassi (9 Pte. Tiramanja, 1st K.A.R.C.); Africa General Service 1901-56, 2 clasps, Somaliland 1902-04, Jidballi (9 L. Corpl. Tirimanga, 1st K. African R.), note minor differences in surname spelling, contact marks, edge bruising and polished, fine or better and extremely rare (3) £1800-2200

Tiramanja, a Yao tribesman from Liwonde, enlisted in the Central Africa Rifles in April 1899. His subsequent services in the Ashanti expedition of 1900, including the Kumassi operations, the Somaliland expedition of 1902-04, and the action at Jidballi, are all verified by his service record, as indeed is the fact that he was awarded a ‘Special Medal for the Ashantee Expedition, 1900, presented by His Majesty the King at Marlborough House, Monday July 29th 1901’. Interestingly, this date of presentation differs from that given by Lieutenant-Colonel H. Moyse-Bartlett in his history The King’s African Rifles, but since two contingents of the regiment set sail for England in the summer of 1901, it is probable that the King held separate investitures for them:

‘On 3 June 1901, a detachment of the 1st Battalion Central Africa Rifles, consisting of one Sikh (Havildar Jaimal Singh, 14th Sikhs), six Sergeants, three Corporals, 12 Privates and an Interpreter, drawn from the Yao and Atonga tribes, embarked for England under the command of Captain C. V. N. Percival (Rifle Brigade). Another detachment of 15 N.C.Os and men of the 2nd Battalion had left Accra for England on 22 May, under Captain J. Johnston-Stewart (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). On arrival they were quartered at St. George’s Barracks and attached to the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards. On 26 June they were inspected in the gardens of Marlborough House by King Edward VII, who presented medals for the recent campaigns in Ashanti and Gambia. The detachment then marched to the War Office for inspection by the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Roberts. During their stay in England the men saw the Royal Tournament, the Military Exhibition at Earls Court, and a review of the Household troops, but the most lasting impression brought back by either party was a display of Brock’s fireworks at the Crystal Palace, and a performing elephant that played a piano at the Alhambra.’

Alas, Tirimanja’s career ended on a less glorious note, for, in January 1905, while garrisoned at Zamba, he was charged for ‘neglect of duty in not taking over the rifle of a discharged man’, and was duly discharged.

To date, it has generally been assumed that King Edward VII gave out Central Africa 1891-98 Medals to the above described contingent of men from the C.A.R., but, as recently discussed in the O.M.R.S. Journal, it now seems increasingly likely that these awards - bearing the inscription “Presented by the King” - were in fact East and West Africa 1887-1900 Medals without a clasp, the result of the short period of time allotted the King to reward the visiting C.A.R. men for their services in the Ashanti 1900 operations, the relevant Medal for which had not yet been authorised.