Medals of the British South Africa Company 1890-97
With royal approval, the B.S.A. Company presented silver medals to all who had participated in the various campaigns in Matabeleland and Mashonaland between 1893 and 1897. In 1926 authority was obtained to extend the award to members of the Pioneer Column of 1890. Suspended from an orange ribbon with three narrow vertical blue stripes by an ornate swivelling suspender incorporating the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland and the shamrock of Ireland, these silver medals, of which there are four varieties, all show on the obverse the diademed and veiled bust of Queen Victoria. On the reverse is a charging maned lion, an assagai shaft protruding from its chest, leaping across a pile of weapons such as were carried by a Matabele warrior – an ox-hide shield, a club and assagais.
B.S.A. Company’s medal for Mashonaland (1890), with bars for Mashonaland (1890) and Matabeleland (1893) reverse
B.S.A. Company’s medal for Matabeleland (1893), with bars for Rhodesia (1896) and Mashanaland (1897) reverse.
I am looking for any information about my grandfather, Charlie Hona Chakalisa(could have been spelt differently e.g.cakalisa / cakadisa / tshakalisa / chakarisa / cakarisa), who worked for the British South Africa Company within the Pioneer Column to then Salisbury. He was stationed at Fort Charter eventually, working in the stables / ox pens. I am particularly keen to find out where he was hired and where he came from.