QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL
"DEFENCE of LADYSMITH"
(HMS POWERFUL)
1914-15 Star Trio.
EDWARD VII L.S.G.C.
(HMS CRESCENT)
To:
152255. C.P.O. Alfred Saunders R.N.
QSA: 152255. P.O. A. SAUNDERS. H.M.S. POWERFUL
(Officially Engraved Seriffed Capitals)
STAR: 152255. A. SAUNDERS. C.P.O. R.N.
PAIR: 152255. A. SAUNDERS. P.O. R.N.
L.S.G.C.(ED,VII): 152255. ALFRED SAUNDERS P.O 1. CL. H.M.S. CRESCENT.
A classic group to an original Royal Naval Division Defender at Ladysmith. Saunders was one of the men from HMS Powerful who dragged the naval guns for over 190 miles through territory so bad it killed the original Oxen tasked with the job !
The most famous action in which the Naval Brigades were involved is that of Ladysmith during the Boer War. In October 1899, British Army chiefs were out gunned by Boer troops who were threatening the garrison at Ladysmith. An appeal was sent to the Royal Navy for guns as a last resort. How could the Navy, hundreds of miles away at their base at Simonstown, send artillery over land in time to stop the Boer attack? Rear Admiral Sir Robert Harris mounted a plan to strip guns from HMSs Terrible and Powerful and take them over land to Ladysmith. The guns, on mountings designed by Captain Percy Scott of HMS Terrible, had to be taken 800 miles by sea, from Simonstown to Durban, and from there on a 190 mile haul to Ladysmith.
Within 24 hours, Captain Lambton, of HMS Powerful, had loaded three 12 pounder guns and the two 4.7” guns on board and was steaming flat out to Durban, where two special trains were waiting to carry the men and guns to Ladysmith. The trains travelled through the night to get to Ladysmith, before the Boers could close off the town and destroy the railway line. The guns were unloaded amongst rifle fire and a deluge of shells from the Boers. In the midst of the fighting, the naval brigade assisted by a team of oxen, hauled their guns from the station, across rocky terrain and into position where they could be brought to bear on the Boers’ heavy gun emplacements.
Meanwhile, a second naval brigade brought more naval guns to join a relief infantry force, under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller. After four months, Ladysmith was relieved on the 1st March 1900, after Buller had broken through under a barrage laid down by naval gunners to cover his advancing infantry.
Lambton brought HMS Powerful home to an unprecedented welcome. His crew pulled their guns through the street of Portsmouth and London as crowds cheered, sang and waved Union Jacks. They took their guns to Windsor where Queen Victoria invited the men to lunch.
Very slight contact wear to the small immediate inner edge contact points on the QSA and LSGC both of which are 100% fully readable and totally OK and correct.
Good VF and Better
A wonderful and very historcally important naval group.
VERY RARE with few ever coming for sale in a complete group AND with an LSGC.
Comes with various copies of naval service records etc.
-SOLD-