Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Jubilee 1897, bronze (Captn. J. Ffolliott Darling. R.H.) contemporarily engraved naming, minor edge bruising, very fine £140-£180

James Johnston Ffolliott Darling served with the Enkeldoorn Garrison Troop (Salisbury Field Force) at the defence of the settlement at Alice Mine in Mazoe country, where a dozen or so guns held off at least a hundred rebels until relieved by Captain R. C. Nesbitt, the latter being awarded the V.C. on the same occasion. He relinquished his commission as a Captain in January 1897 and returned to Ireland, where, later that year, he was alerted to the formation of “The Rhodesia Jubilee Troop”, a contingent required for the forthcoming Jubilee celebrations and, due to shortage of time, one which had to be manned by old “Pioneers” then resident in the U.K., and was among just 12 candidates selected from around 200 applicants - the Troop paraded with other colonial units along the Embankment, amidst much cheering, before taking up station outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. He is believed to have been presented with his Jubilee Medal by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in a ceremony on 3 July 1897.

Note: The recipient’s 2 clasp B.S.A. Company Medal and an unnamed Jubilee 1897 Medal was sold in these rooms on 10 May 2017 (Lot 341)- for a full account of the recipient’s service please see the catalogue footnote from that lot.