Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The rare Queen’s South Africa Medal awarded to Quartermaster F. Carter, Welsh Hospital

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State (Qr: Mr: F. Carter. Welsh Hospital) nearly extremely fine and rare to unit £400-£500

Provenance: Llewellyn Lord Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 2016.

One of only 44 Queen’s South Africa Medals awarded to members of the Welsh Hospital, Carter’s award for services as Quartermaster being unique.

Francis Carter served as Quartermaster of the Welsh Hospital in South Africa during the Boer War; the hospital was one of a number of private hospitals that was accepted and used by the British Government during the Boer War, and was established in March 1900. A sum of £12,000 was quickly raised to fund the initiative, and the Welsh Hospital set sail for Cape Town the following month, comprising five Surgeons, one Matron, nine Nursing Sisters, seven Dressers, fourteen Civilian Orderlies, two Sister’s Maids, one Chef (a Frenchman, Monsieur Amiel), two Cooks, and a Quartermaster. It was slightly larger in size than the similarly formed Scottish and Irish Hospitals. Housed in tents on the open veldt in Bloemfontein, the Hospital was handed over to the Army on 30 September 1900, being described at the time as being ‘the model and the smartest military hospital in South Africa.’

Sold with copied medal roll extract (the recipient is the only entry on the page in question), and copied research about the Welsh Hospital.