Roberts of Kandahar Honours: Queen's South Africa Medal, 1899-1901

Queen's South Africa Medal

British military medals were granted to troops serving in specific campaigns. The Queen's South Africa Medal was presented to British, Imperial and Colonial troops serving in the Boer War. Individual campaigns were recognized by the use of a bar to be worn on the ribbon of the medal. In the case of the Boer War, there were 26 separate bars issued.

Three examples of the Queen's South Africa Medal
After L. L. Gordon, British Battles and Medals, 5th Edition, 1979


Bars to the Queens South Africa Medal

Cape Colony	Tugela Heights	Transvaal
Rhodesia	Natal	Johannesburg
Relief of Mafeking	Relief of Kimberley	Laing's Nek
Defence of Kimberly	Paardeberg	Diamond Hill
Talana	Orange Free State	Wittebergen
Elandslaagte	Relief of Ladysmith	Belfast
Defence of Ladysmith	Dreifontein	South Africa 1901
Belmont	Wepener	South Africa 1902
Modder River	Defence of Mafeking

	Field Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar Honours and Decorations
	K. R. Gibbs provides background notes on some of the actions for which the Queen's South Africa Medal was awarded in "Bars and Medals" from the Military History Journal of the South African Military History Society, Volume 2, Number 3, June, 1973.
	Lord Roberts was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy while serving as a Lieutenant in the Bengal Horse Artillery (Indian Army) during the Indian Mutiny. The Victoria Cross is Britain's highest award for gallantry. In 1899, his son, Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts, was awarded the V.C. posthumously for his actions at the Battle of Colenso during the South African War.
	In his autobiography, Forty-One Years in India, London, 1897, Lord Roberts recounts the Siege of Delhi (1857) during the Indian Mutiny (Chapters XIII through XIX).

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