AN EXTREMELY RARE “TRANSPORT MEDAL” (EDWARD VII)



With “TWO CLASPS”
[SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902] & [CHINA 1900]

To: JOHN HASTIE ROBERTSON (Chief Engineer)

TORPEDOED by UC-62 on 28th July 1917.

The Edward VII Transport medal is a very rare item indeed and is seldom seen even as a single clasp medal. Only 1219 single clasp awards were issued.

To see a Two Clasp Medal is an extraordinarily rare situation as only 178 were awarded with both clasps.

[BIOGRAPHY)
JOHN HASTIE ROBERTSON was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1869 and served on board SS GLENGYLE as 3rd Engineer for the South Africa clasp, & as 2nd Engineer for the China clasp ....He later served as Chief Engineer in the Steamer SS GLENSTRAE in which he was torpedoed by UC-62, (Cdr Ernst Hashagen) 66 miles SW by S from Bishop Rock. The ship which was carrying a general cargo homeward bound from Dakar to Dunkirk was lost with the loss of one life.

The medal was awarded to officers of the merchant navy who served in ships engaged in the transportation of men, horses & supplies to and from the United Kingdom to both South Africa & China during the two wars there in the final years of the 19th Century, and up to 1902. The award was discontinued on 4th August 1914 at the outbreak of the Great War.

I’ve had only three of these Two Clasp medals in almost 50 years of full time trading, so I’ll recommend it as a “must have” item for the serious collector.







With an estimated survival figure of about 50 - 75 examples of this two clasp medal you are highly unlikely to ever come across another one of these.

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