A rare ‘Jameson Raider’s’ B.S.A. Co. Medal awarded to Captain and Quartermaster James Hutchinson Kennedy, Salisbury Field Force

British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse Rhodesia 1896 (Capt. & Q.M. J. H. Kennedy, Salisbury Fld. Fce.) extremely fine
£500-600

James Hutchinson Kennedy, described as a ‘jovial, rubicund Irishman’, served as Quarter Master on the ill-fated Jameson Raid, 29 December 1895-2 January 1896. He possibly accompanied the ‘raid’ as the legal re-organiser of the hoped-for new regime in the Transvaal. Like other survivors, he was made prisoner and held for a few weeks in Pretoria before being shipped to England, ostensibly to stand trial. This never happened and like many of the others he immediately returned to South Africa and served in the 1896 war in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. The rolls also show that a Captain & Quartermaster Kennedy served in the Salisbury Horse in the 1893 Matabeleland campaign.

His entry in the Who’s Who in South Africa 1916 reads: ‘12 years service with the Griqualand West and Cape Colonial Government. Chief Accountant Masholaland 1901. Master and Registrar of the High Court 1894. Judge of the High Court 1895. Chief Commissariat Officer Matabele War 1893 and British South Africa Company Agent and Transport Officer in Mafeking. War Medal and clasp. Chairman of the Tender Boards. High Sheriff 1900. Member of the Legislative Council.’

With copied research.