Queen’s South Africa Medal with ‘Transvaal’ Bar – Awarded to C281 3rd Class Trooper CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS of the South African Constabulary

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0061

Queen’s South Africa Medal with ‘Transvaal’ Bar – Awarded to C281 3^rd Class Trooper CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS of the South African Constabulary

You are looking at Queen’s South Africa Medal with ‘Transvaal’ bar, awarded to Trooper 3^rd Class CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS of the South African Constabulary.

The medal is inscribed ‘281 3^RD CL: TPR: A.J.ANDREWS. S.A.C.’.......but it is clear the medal has been named incorrectly.

CHARLES was NOT entitled to the King’s South Africa Medal, but in addition to the ‘Transvaal’ bar, he was also awarded clasps ‘South Africa 1901’ and ‘South Africa 1902’ to be worn on this medal, the QSA.

The South African Constabulary were created by Field Marshall Lord ROBERTS, at the request of Major General ROBERT BADEN-POWELL, on the 22^nd of October 1900, and BADEN-POWELL was its first commander.

On the 10^th of January 1901 at Westminster, so less than 3 x months after the S.A.C. were formed, at the age of 25 years, and whilst he was living at The Cedars, Boxmoor in Hertfordshire, CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS enlisted into the unit....He was a dairyman at the time, although he also provided that he was an estate steward by profession, and within the application form, when asked if he was single, he answered ‘yes’, but this was untrue because CHARLES had married SARAH BLAMIRE in 1896 and the couple had two children by this time, and there are other things within his available service record that appear to suggest that he was keen to join the S.A.C.

He appears to have arrived in South Africa by the 8^th of March 1901, formally attesting into the S.A.C. at Heidelberg on the 24^th of March, and at this point, he provided that he was married.

The South African Constabulary were not a police force as we think of the police today, they were a paramilitary unit, a mounted infantry who operated alongside other British units in keeping law and order and acting against Boer guerrilla insurgency in the newly captured Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State.

C (Eastern) Division of the S.A.C. were based in the Southern and South-Eastern Transvaal, and they maintained a network of constabulary blockhouses and police posts in that area, and CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS was a member of No 6 Troop, that had a number of former Boer commanders within its rank, most notably Captain KRUGER who is mentioned in CHARLES’S service record.  

In August 1901, No 6 Troop was operating in the rugged mountainous area of Tygerpoort in Transvaal, at a time when the Boer commandoes under General BOTHA were using the area to mount raids against British troops, and the S.A.C. often came under attack from Boer units trying to break through the protective fencelines they were guarding.

From Late 1901 to early 1902, No 6 Troop and other sub-units in C Division were in the Steenkoolspruit area, where they had to operate in difficult and particularly muddy conditions, and where they were engaged in local skirmishes with Boer units, whilst British Army troops were in action nearby, especially at the end of October, with British troops were involved in a fierce skirmish at Rietkuil on the 26^th October, and suffering  significant losses during the Battle of Bakenlaagte four days later.

From his service record, we know CHARLES had a number of misconduct issues during his service with the S.A.C., as follows:

May 1901 at Heidelberg – Having a dirty rifle on parade

August 1901 at Tygerpoort – Inattention to duty

January 1902 at Steenkoolspruit  – Having a dirty rifle and bayonet on parade

1902 at Steenkoolspruit – Being absent from horse-guard

From the disciplinary record, we know CHARLES was at Tygerpoort and Steenkoolspruit during the period when there was a lot of action between the British and Boer forces, during one of the most brutal and dangerous periods of the Second Boer War.

After the Boer War ended, CHARLES went on to purchase his discharge from the S.A.C., and he ended his service on the 6^th of December 1902.

CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS, the son of SAMUEL JAMES and AMY ANDREWS (formerly FOOT), was born on the 5^th of March 1875 at Mushadabad in the Bengal Presidency area of India, and he was baptised at Berhampore in Bengal on the 2^nd of April that same year...He was the couple’s first child, his parents having married at Hove on the 19^th of May 1874, with SAMUEL described as a gentleman in the marriage record, and at the time of their son’s birth and baptism, they were living at Gadee in Mushadabad and SAMUEL was an assistant in a silk factory by profession.

In 1881, AMY ANDREWS had returned to England with her children, appearing in the census record at 18 Grafton Road, Worthing, in the Parish of Broadwater in Sussex, and with her described as the wife of SAMUEL JAMES ANDREWS, a silk merchant, although her husband was not listed with her at the time.

On the 2^nd of September 1896, CHARLES JAMES ANDREWS married SARAH BLAMIRE at Boxmoor in Hertfordshire, and he was a farmer at the time, but he was not listed alongside his wife and children in the 1901 Census, because they were lodging at an address in Hastings whilst he was away serving with the South African Constabulary in South Africa, however, the family were together in the 1911 and 1921 Census records, with CHARLES’S profession described as dairy manager on each occasion.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.