{"product_id":"ww1-medal-trio-1914-15-star-british-war-medal-victory-medal-south-african-bilingual-awarded-to-h-g-koch-of-the-utrecht-commando-maritz-rebellion-german-south-west-africa","title":"WW1 medal trio – 1914-15 Star, British War Medal \u0026 Victory Medal (South African – Bilingual) – awarded to H G KOCH of the Utrecht Commando – ‘Maritz Rebellion’ \u0026 German South West Africa","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eStock Reference – MM-MED-0036\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: Aptos; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\"\u003eWW1 medal trio – 1914-15 Star, British War Medal \u0026amp; Victory Medal (South African – Bilingual) – awarded to H G KOCH of the Utrecht Commando – ‘Maritz Rebellion’ \u0026amp; German South West Africa\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eYou are looking at a World War One trio of medals, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal (South African - Bilingual), awarded to Private H.G.KOCH of the Utrecht Commando.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe medals are:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e1914-15 Star inscribed ‘PTE. H.G.KOCH, UTRECT CDO.’........’Utrecht’ misspelled.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eBritish War \u0026amp; Bilingual Victory Medal inscribed ‘PTE. H.G.KOCH, UTRECHT CDO.’ \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAccording to various websites dealing with the award of WW1 medals to South Africans, there were 318 x names listed on the British War \u0026amp; Victory Medal rolls for the Utrecht Commando, but the seller has not seen these records to confirm that number. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThe Utrecht Commando was a volunteer force, raised in the late 1800s, who were engaged in military action against the British during the Boer War. Its members were typically made up of farmers and other local citizens, ‘burghers’ as they were known, who were from the local area, chose their own officers and leaders through a process of democratic selection, and deployed guerilla style tactics against the enemy. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eUnfortunately, historical records relating to the Utrecht Commando are limited in number, and the recipient of this trio of medals, with only rank, initials and surname to work with, cannot be identified with absolute certainty, although the initial most likely belong to HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH, a name that appears quite often in the historical records for that particular area of South Africa, with no other names identified to suggest the initials belong to any other candidate, although this is no guarantee that the identification is correct.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAs to the events the Utrecht Commando were involved in during the early stages of WW1, there is a newspaper article titled ‘Letter from South Africa – Chasing the Rebels’ that appeared in the Oxfordshire Weekly News on the 27\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of January 1915 and gives us some idea........The letter, sent to Mrs W RANDALL of Heythrop in Oxfordshire, was from her brother, who was in South Africa and was taking part in the campaign against the rebels involved in the ‘Maritz Rebellion’ of 1914......The letter described how, at the beginning of October that year, the brother’s unit had been sent to the front at short notice, and had returned on the 16\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of December. During this period, they had been fighting rebels in the Free State and Transvaal area, resulting in them chasing the notorious rebel leader KEMP \u003cb\u003e(\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: normal;\"\u003eJAN CHRISTOFFEL GREYLING KEMP) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eover the border into another state area, a round trip of nearly 5,000 miles from Utrecht where they started out, and they were now preparing to deploy to German South West Africa, on the 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of January 1915, quote, “to try and take their country from them”, a difficult task owing to the desert, lack of water and distance to be travelled, but with the expectation of there being heavy fighting when they arrived and lives being lost, a sacrifice the brother was prepared to make for the “sake of dear old England” .....The brother went on to describe how he was taking his eldest son PIET with him, and that he had also been promoted to the rank of Captain and Adjutant for service with the Utrecht Commando. \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAs for the letter’s author, well, the Mrs W RANDALL referred to is believed to be AGNES CHARLOTTE RANDALL formerly LINDER (born 1869), who married WILLIAM RANDALL at St Nicholas Church in Heythrop in 1901 and then lived with him at Heythrop Cottage, and she was in turn the daughter of JAMES BLAKE LINDER (c1823\/24-1875), a former Farrier Major in the 6\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e Carabiniers (Dragoon Guards). AGNES was also brother to TWEED JAMES BLAKE LINDER (born 1872), who emigrated to South Africa in 1893, is believed to have served as a trooper in Kitchener’s Horse during the Boer War, married JOHANNA CATHARINA HENDRICA WESSELS at Utrecht in 1905, served with the Northern District Mounted Rifles during the ‘Natal’ conflict (Bambatha Rebellion) of 1906, was a lieutenant in the same regiment in at least 1909, and probably up to it being disbanded in 1913, and then served in the Utrecht Commando when the South African Defence Act of 1912 created the Union Defence Force and reformed some of the commandoes that had been outlawed and disbanded back in 1902. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eTWEED LINDER and his wife had at least four children, with three of them, AGNES, CYRIL and BEATRIX, born 1905, 1912 and 1916 respectively, all born at Utrecht, so the LINDER family were clearly living in this area over this period, and either side of TWEED’S service through the 1906 rebellion and the 1914-15 ‘Maritz Rebellion and GSWA, and it is the catchment area from which the Utrecht Commando members were drawn that is of interest when considering where our medal recipient H.G.KOCH came from and the particular KOCH family to whom he belonged, with, based on the names of those few members of the Utrecht Commando who have been identified, the locations Nooitgedacht, Goedehoop, Wakkerstroom, Spitzkop, Marthinusdrift and Paulpiertersburg all appearing in the associated records, and with some of these locations appearing more than once, for example, there are at least two places called ‘Spitzkop’ and ‘Goedehoop (Goedhoop)’ in the region, in each case, one close to Ermelo and one closer towards Utrecht, and this makes it very difficult whey trying to pin down exactly where these men came from. \u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAccepting HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH is likely to be the recipient’s name, then research has identified at least five occurrences of the name within the Utrecht and Ermelo district area, with four who could have served with the Utrecht Commando during WW1, as follows:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH born 1865 – Son of HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH born c1888\/89 – Son of JOHAN PHILIPPUS JACOBUS KOCH\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH born c1891\/92 – Son of BERNARDUS C (HERMANUS) KOCH\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDES KOCH born c1896\/97 – Son of DAVID KOCH \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThe candidates - Information of note\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThere are 2 x military records of note, for an H.G.KOCH and a P.J.KOCH, who were both recorded as members of the Utrecht Commando in 1900, and by way of a reminder, the Utrecht Commando were actively engaged in fighting against British troops at this time.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eIt is likely the P.J.KOCH named is PHILLIP JACOBUS KOCK, of ‘Uitzoek’ in the (Ward 14) district of Utrecht, who was killed in action on the 23\u003csup\u003erd\u003c\/sup\u003e of October 1901, whilst serving with Boer forces during the ‘Battle of Pongola Bosch (Bush)’, because we know from other records that the Utrecht Commando were present at this action....PHILLIP was 53 years old at the time so born c1847\/48, and the associated death record provides that he was a married man and a stock farmer.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003ePHILLIP, or PHILLIPPUS to give him his proper name, as it appears in most other records, was married to MAGDALENA MARIA KOCH formerly BIERMAN of Utrecht, and they had at least 10 x children, none of which have the initials H.G., so accepting PHILLIP JACOBUS is the likely to be the member of the Utrecht Commando in 1900, who went on to be killed at Pongola Bosch in 1901, then on the face of it, the other person named as a member of that unit in 1900 was not his son......He did have a brother however, called HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH, who was born on the 5\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of March 1832, married MARIA ELIZABETH formerly BESTER, and had at least 11 x children, of which one was also called HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH who was born on the 22\u003csup\u003end\u003c\/sup\u003e of March....HENDRIK GERHARDUS Senior died on the 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e of September 1902, after the war had ended, with his home recorded as Witklip in the district of Utrecht, although his place of death was elsewhere.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAt this point, again, accepting P J KOCH is probably PHILLIPPUS JACOBUS KOCH who died in 1901, then there are potentially two HENDRIK GERHARDUSES who may be candidates for H G KOCH, the other member of the Utrecht Commando in 1900, but there are others with that same name, living in and around the same region, as follows:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH born c1888\/89 – He was the son of JOHAN PHILIPPUS JACOBUS KOCH (born c1858\/59) and MARIA SOPHIA MAGDALENA K KOCH formerly BREYTENBACK – There is a prisoner of war record for a 42 year old JOHAN PHILIPPUS JACOBUS KOCH and 12 year old H.G.KOCH, their home address ‘Weltevreden’ in the Ermelo district, who were captured in May 1901, believed to be members of the Ermelo Field Cornetcy or Commando, and were sent to Bermuda. That same month, his wife and other children were removed from their home and detained in Standerton Concentration Camp.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH born c1891\/92 – He was the son of BERNARDUS C (HERMANUS) KOCH (born c1866-69) and MARIA ELIZABETH. During the war, the whole family it appears, parents, children and BERNARDUS’S elderly mother, were held at the Volkrust Concentration Camp, with their home prior to detention recorded as ‘Waschbank (Wasbank)’, Vryheid and Witklip in Utrecht, on the face of it two different addresses. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eHENDRIK GERHARDES KOCH born c1896\/97 – He was the son of DAVID KOCH (born 1873\/74) and CATRINA ALETTA KOCK of Witklip in Utrecht. CATRINA and her children were held at Jacobs Sidings Concentration Camp from April 1901, with the record describing how her husband was ‘on commando’, so away from the family fighting with the Boer forces. DAVID was captured later that year and arrived at the same camp in June.\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eAs you can see from the information provided, there are 5 x HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCHS who appear in the records, some who would not have been of fighting age to have served in the Utrecht Commando in 1900, but could have gone on to serve with that unit during WW1, and there is a possibility further research may reveal even more occurrences of the name, such was the nature of Boer family naming, with the same names continually being passed down the line to further generations and across extended family lines, and it is highly likely all of those mentioned will be related in some way or form, and probably originate from the same family source travelling back in time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003eThe South African historical records have not been easy to access and decipher, but those records that have been identified suggest that the recipient of this trio of medals is most likely to be HENDRIK GERHARDUS KOCH, however, several men bearing this name have been identified as living in the Utrecht and surrounding area, all potentially capable of being able to go to war in 1914, but unfortunately, it has not been possible to positively identify which of these, if any of course, is the true recipient, although further information may come to light in the future that may enable the recipient to be identified with greater certainty. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eSELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and \/ or created during my research into this medal will be provided.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maddox Medals \u0026 Militaria ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54493774676314,"sku":null,"price":180.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1013\/7180\/6042\/files\/KochImage1.jpg?v=1785680906","url":"https:\/\/maddoxmedals.co.uk\/products\/ww1-medal-trio-1914-15-star-british-war-medal-victory-medal-south-african-bilingual-awarded-to-h-g-koch-of-the-utrecht-commando-maritz-rebellion-german-south-west-africa","provider":"Maddox Medals \u0026 Militaria ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}