The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956

Six: Major William Hugh Hunter, Seaforth Highlanders, the Military Commandant of the Bahr-el-Ghazal province, who led the punitive expedition to avenge the murder of Scott-Barbour, and who later died of Blackwater fever

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir (Lieut: W. H. Hunter, 1/Sea: Highrs.); India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1891 (Captain W. H. Hunter, 2d Bn. Sea. Highrs.); Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Capt. W. H. Hunter, 1/Sea. Hrs.); Khedive’s Star 1882; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 3 clasps, Khartoum, Sudan 1899, Bahr-el-Ghazal 1900-02 (Captain W. H. Hunter, 1st Sea. Highrs.) last two clasps loose on ribbon; Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class neck badge, silver, gold and enamels, the first five mounted cavalry style as worn, the first two with light pitting from star, otherwise very fine or better (6) £1800-2200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956.

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Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class London Gazette 22 September 1902.

William Hugh Hunter was born on 8 July 1860, the son of Major Patrick Hunter, J.P. & D.L. for Perthshire. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Seaforth Highlanders on 11 Sept 1880, becoming Lieutenant in March 1881. He served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, and was present at the seizure of the Suez Canal, West of Ismalia, and at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and afterwards at the occupation of Zagazig and Cairo. He was promoted to Captain in August 1889, and went to India with the 2nd Battalion, taking part in the Hazara expedition of 1891.

Seconded to the Egyptian Army in November 1898, he was present at the battle of Omdurman, attached to 1st Seaforths. He took part in the Kaka expedition of 1899 and took command of the Xth Sudanese Battalion in March 1900. He was Commandant of Assuan Sub-District from March 1900 to December 1902. He became Miralai (Colonel) in 1902. Promoted to Major on the Home list in June 1899, he was next appointed Commandant and Administrator, Bahr-el-Ghazal Province.

In January 1900 the Agar Dinka, near Rumbek, rose in rebellion after having been ordered to return cattle taken during a raid on another Dinka section. Under the leadership of Myang Mathiang, the Agar ambushed a government column, killing its commander, Captain Scott-Barbour, and all but four of his escort. Wingate recorded in a diary his main concern, government defences that were so weak as to constitute merely a provocation to revolt. He observed, ‘We are now holding 1200 miles of river and the whole of the Bahr-el-Ghazal with 3 companies of regulars and 250 Irregulars. None of the stations are in a state of defence - the tribes are not to be trusted and though not armed with rifles they could by sheer force of numbers demolish our smaller stations. ... When one knows how nearly we escaped a serious rising when Scott-Barbour was killed, we must take warning and strengthen our positions all round.’

To maintain the peace, retribution had to be swift. Captain W. H. Hunter led a small force of Sudanese troops into Agar country, where they cut a ten-mile swathe of destruction by burning villages, confiscating cattle, and rounding up those implicated in the recent rising. Shortly after this force withdrew, another much stronger punitive expedition arrived, the 'Shambe Field Force’ under Lee Stack, which Hunter joined as second in command. The Agar country was wrecked to the point that 'not more than a dozen houses were left standing in the whole' district. Myang Mathiang managed to escape but in July was surprised by a government patrol and killed with twenty-four followers.

Hunter died suddenly of Blackwater fever at Fort Wau, Bahr-El-Ghazal Province, on 20 July 1902. His body was taken to Khartoum where he was buried with full military honours on 11 November 1902.

With a folder containing copied research.