A Q.S.A. Medal awarded to Private F. Lawrence, King’s Royal Rifle Corps - a survivor from the R.I.M.S. Warren Hastings when she ran aground and sank on 14 January 1897

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (4521 Pte., K.R.R.C.) contained in fitted leather case, nearly extremely fine £200-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Boer War Medals.

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On 6 January 1897, the R.I.M.S. Warren Hastings, commanded by Commander G.E. Holland, D.S.O., Royal Indian Marine, sailed from Cape Town for Mauritius. The passengers principally consisted of a half battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, half a battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment and detachments of the Middlesex Regiment. A good passage was had until the morning of the 13th, when the glass fell and the wind shifted to the south. Despite reduced visibility there was no cause for concern and that night the troops went untroubled to bed. At about 2.20 am on the 14th, a violent shudder was felt throughout the ship. Orders were given for the K.R.R.C. to fall in on the port side and the York and Lancasters on the starboard side. Through the torrential rain ship's officers perceived that the vessel was aground and that it was possible to disembark by ropes on to the rocky coast of what later turned out to be the island of Reunion. At 4.15am the ship began to heel to starboard. Twenty minutes later the electric lights went out. Thus by 5.00 am those men on the starboard side, some in total darkness, were standing knee deep in water. The list gradually increased until the captain himself thought the ship would turn over

Nevertheless the discipline for which the British soldier is famed prevailed, and the disembarkation was accomplished without a single fatality. The only lives lost during the whole episode were those of two natives who ran amok and jumped overboard. One officer present later wrote 'Personally I look upon the whole business as one of the most creditable things to the British Army which has ever occurred, and without invidious comparison quite as creditable as the Birkenhead, for in the latter, if we are to believe the pictures, the men were at least all on deck, whilst on the Warren Hastings they were between decks, and...quite unable to see what was going on.'

With a copied article concerning the Warren Hastings and a roll of men of the 1st K.R.R.C. present.

Private F. Lawrence, 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, having survived the wrecking of the Warren Hastings, later went on to serve with the battalion in the Boer War, serving in the relief of Ladysmith and Tugela Heights operations. He was subsequently invalided home. With copied roll extract.