Orders, Decorations and Medals

An interesting British South Africa Company’s 1890-97 Medal awarded to Trooper F. Leech, Gwelo Volunteer Corps, late Victoria Column, a successful gold prospector

British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse Matabeleland 1893, 1 clasp, Rhodesia 1896 (Gunr. F. Leech, Victoria Column), together with related 40th Anniversary of the Occupation of Matabeleland 1893-1933 commemorative medallion, bronze, the clasp a tailor’s copy, extremely fine (2) £350-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of British South Africa Company 1890-97 Medals.

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Frank Leech, who was born in Durban in April 1863, served as a Gunner in the Victoria Column during the 1893 Rebellion and as a Trooper under Captain H. Ware in the Gwelo Volunteer Corps in the 1896 Rebellion, his claim for the latter clasp also stating that he was onetime attached to the Salisbury Horse and Salisbury Scouts. Official records also verify that he claimed £453 from the Compensation Board at Bulawayo for losses incurred during the 1896 Rebellion, his property at “Leechdale” in the Shangani District being destroyed by the Matabele, together with farming equipment, livestock and personal possessions.

In the previous year, however, as a gold prospector, he had fared rather better, taking a founding share in the infamous “Ancient Ruins Limited”, a company established with a grant from the British South Africa Company after the discovery of major hoards of ancient gold jewellery at Mambo Ruins, south of the Zambesi, on land owned by the Hon. Maurice Gifford - accompanying research includes an informative letter written be a fellow-founder, W. G. Neal, in late September 1895, in which he states ‘Jameson the Administrator thanked us and congratulated us and gave us the concession over all ruins south of the Zambesi, and Mr. Rhodes approved of the affair.’

And while Leech may have sustained considerable loss as a result of the 1896 Rebellion, he clearly made up any lost ground with subsequent gold prospecting in the Belgian Congo, where he died in July 1914, leaving £11,198 to his nieces and nephews; sold with full research.