Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Quartermaster Sergeant J. Mason, East India Railway Regiment, late Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Orange Free State, unofficial rivets between top two clasps (5586 Pte. J. Mason, R. Welsh Fus:); China 1900, 1 copy clasp, Relief of Pekin (No. 5586 Private J. Mason, 2nd Batt: R.W. Fusiliers.) renamed; Coronation 1902, Hong Kong issue, bronze (J. Mason); Volunteer Force Long Service (India and the Colonies), G.V.R. (Q-M-S. J. Mason. 3-E.I. Ry. R. A.F.I.) good very fine (4) £300-£400

John Mason was born in Wotton-under Edge, Gloucestershire, in 1880 and attested for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 28 February 1898, having previously served with the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He served with the 1st Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War from 23 October 1899 to 18 July 1900, before transferring to the 2nd Battalion, and serving in China from 19 July 1900 to 9 November 1902, and then in India. He was discharged in India on 17 March 1906; he clearly remained in India, and was awarded his Volunteer Force Long Service Medal while serving with the 3rd Battalion East India Railway Regiment per Indian Army Order 591 of 1925.

Note: The Queen’s South Africa Medal is confirmed on roll, with the Orange Free State clasp being confirmed on a supplementary roll, and presumably therefore despatched later. No confirmation has been found regarding the recipient’s entitlement to a China Medal; presumably, given the fact that it is renamed and the clasp a tailor’s copy, the recipient believed that he was entitled to it from his service with the 2nd Battalion, although it is unlikely that he was officially entitled to it.