Offered is a Queen’s South Africa medal 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Defence of Ladysmith, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, unofficial rivets between third and fourth, and fourth and fifth clasps. Impressed named 4495 PTE J.BAKER. GLOUC: REGT
The medal is court mounted for display. Comes with copies medal rolls.
Private Baker is on the 2nd Battalion medal roll with note “Served with 1st Battalion.”
The clasps Orange Free State, Cape Colony, Transvaal & Defence of Ladysmith were only awarded to the 1st Battalion.
1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment
1899 Deployed to Ladysmith, the 1st Battalion was part of a column sent out on 24 October to cover the withdrawal of a brigade after the Battle of Talana Hill. When the column came under fire near Rietfontein, the battalion was detached and ordered forward, but the order was ambiguous and the battalion advanced too far. The troops were caught in the open for several hours before they were able to extricate themselves at the cost of five men killed, including the battalion commander, and 58 wounded.
Five days later, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion were part of a small force tasked with seizing Nicholson's Nek, a pass some 6 miles (10 km) north of Ladysmith, during the Battle of Ladysmith. The troops moved out on the night of 29 October with the intention to be in position before the main battle started, but they left too late to reach their objective before daybreak. As they took up an alternative position on the nearby Tchrengula Hill the pack-mules bolted, taking most of the heavy weaponry and ammunition with them. The Boers discovered the incursion at dawn and surrounded the position, and although the British held out for several hours they were forced to surrender at 12:30. The battalion lost 38 killed and 115 wounded, and the survivors were held as prisoners of war in Pretoria.
The remainder of the 1st Battalion helped in the defence of Ladysmith (the city was eventually relieved on 1 March.
