The Transvaal Staats Courant of 9 May 1900 carried an instruction to field commanders to record the names of members of the Transvaal forces who ‘exceptionally distinguished themselves through bravery’ during the then current operations of the Anglo-Boer War. The notice went on to state that the Government wished to present a medal or a cross to the men concerned, after the war. The Transvaal Republican government did not, of course, survive to implement its intention, but, after some delay occasioned by the First World War, the Union government, on 21 Dec. 1920, rectified the omission by instituting two medals and a special wound ribbon.

The ‘Anglo-Boere Oorlog’ medal was awarded as a campaign medal to all burghers of the two Republics who were still under arms when the end came at Vereeniging. The second and more important award, the ‘Dekoratie voor Trouwe Dienst’, was given to 65 officers of the two Republics who had rendered distinguished and specially meritorious service during the war. Like the medal, this decoration bears the arms of the Transvaal on one side and those of the Orange Free State on the other, but in the case of the decoration the background of the arms is in the shape of a cross, the traditional symbol of an award for valour. In the field surrounding the cross, on each side, is the inscription VOOR TROUWE DIENST 1899-1902. The ribbons of the decoration and the medal, and the wound ribbon, are all composed of the combined colours of the Transvaal and Orange Free State flags (green, orange, red, white and blue), but they can be distinguished by their differing arrangement of the colours and width of the stripes.

Tags: Anglo Boer War, medal, Staats Courant, valour