Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Sapper A. T. Draper, Royal Engineers, who was tasked with accompanying two Soudanese donkeys (which were captured at the Atbara) from Cairo to Liverpool in heavy seas - a gift from the Sirdar to Queen Victoria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg (24202. Sapr. A. T. Draper. R.E.) engraved naming; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (24202 Sapr. A. T. Draper. R.E.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1902-04 (24202 Sapr: A. Draper. R.E.); Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (24202 Sapr. A. T. Draper. R.E.) nearly very fine (4) £400-£500

Albert Thomas Draper was born in the Parish of Gittisham, near Honiton, Devon, around 1870. A gardener, he attested at Ottery St. Mary for the Royal Engineers on 17 January 1890, serving in South Africa from 21 October 1899 to 28 October 1902 and Somaliland from 28 July 1903 to 22 December 1904. Appointed skilled Field Line Telegraphist, he was awarded his Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in October 1908, and was discharged from ‘A’ Signal Company on 16 January 1911 upon the termination of his second period of engagement. Draper later died on 14 April 1939 at his home in Aldershot in consequence of acute pneumonia.

Sold with a file of copied research, including Army Service Record confirming that this is his full medal entitlement, and a couple of fine newspaper articles relating to the recipient’s early service:

‘The Sirdar’s Gift to the Queen.
A Large Docile Donkey.
The large Arabian donkey presented to the Queen by Lord Kitchener arrived at the Royal Albert Docks on Thursday afternoon, on board the S.S. Duke of Argyll. It was accompanied by another, but much smaller donkey, destined for the Duchess of Cleveland, also a gift from the Sirdar. Both animals were in splendid condition. Indeed, Sapper Draper, R.E., who has had charge of them since the vessel left Cairo, stated that they had stood the voyage very well, although the cold weather experienced in the Channel had been severely felt by them. They travelled in specially constructed boxes, fitted with slings, and erected upon deck.’