Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse Matabeleland 1893 (Mr. A. E. Burnett. Scout) extremely fine and a rare casualty £1200-1500

Ex Spink, November 1999.

Albert Edward Burnett was born in East London, Cape Colony, in January 1863, and as a young man moved to Kimberley where he engaged in diamond mining. In 1885 he participated in the Warren Expedition under Colonel Gough’s regiment, the 3rd Mounted Rifles, and later that year joined the Bechuanaland Border Police. Resigning this appointment in March 1887, in order to join Frank Johnson on an expedition to obtain a gold concession from King Inkosi of the Ndebele Tributary State, he went on to carry out similar work under Frederick Selous. Johnson later wrote of his old friend:

‘Next came Ted Burnett. I shall always think of him as the best specimen of Colonial I ever came across; and this is high praise. He was a Sergeant in the Force (Bechuanaland Border Police), certainly the best natural man on a horse and the second-best rifle shot I ever knew... If I had to go into a tight corner and were restricted to one companion, I should have shouted for Ted Burnett...’

In May 1890, Burnett was appointed Chief Transport Officer in the British South Africa Company Pioneer Corps and was employed in the invasion of Mashonaland. When Selous resigned in August, he became Chief Intelligence Officer, and subsequently accompanied Sir J. Willoughby in search of a site for Fort Salisbury. Riding ahead of the main column of settlers, Burnett was responsible for locating the spot which was so christened, and attended the ceremony in “Cecil Square” in early September.

On the disbandment of the Pioneer Corps, he returned to prospecting and mining in Mashonaland, but on the outbreak of the Anglo-Ndebele War in 1893 returned to active service in the Column under Major P. W. Forbes. The latter was joined by the Victoria Column under Major A. Wilson at Iron Mine Hill in mid-October and just over a week later Burnett was killed in action while on patrol near the Shangani River. His old friend Frank Johnson records that he was shot while entering a supposedly deserted hut. He was buried on the south bank, close to the old main road.

Sold with detailed research.