Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Zulu War Medal awarded to Sergeant R. Anderson, 58th Regiment of Foot, later 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, who was killed in action at Laing’s Nek on 28 January 1881

South Africa 1877-79, no clasp (29/1770. Sgt. R. Anderson. 58th. Foot.) good very fine £1,000-£1,400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Medals for the First Boer War.

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Robert Anderson served with the 58th Regiment of Foot in South Africa, and was killed in action at Laing’s Nek on 28 January 1881. On this date, having led his Natal Field Force, comprising 1,400 men, an 80-strong Naval brigade, artillery and Gatling guns, to a strategic pass in the hills on the Natal-Transvaal border called Laing’s Nek, Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley attempted with cavalry and infantry attacks to break through the Boer positions on the Drakensberg mountain range to relieve their garrisons. The British were repelled with heavy losses by the Boers under the command of Piet Joubert; of the 480 British troops who made the charges, 150 never returned. Furthermore, sharp-shooting Boers had killed or wounded many senior officers.

Total British casualties were 84 killed and 113 wounded, with the bulk of these suffered by the 58th Regiment of Foot, who lost 74 killed and 101 wounded, around a third of their total strength. Boer losses were 14 killed and 27 wounded. For his gallantry in bringing casualties down from the hillside, Lieutenant Alan Hill, 58th Foot, was awarded the Victoria Cross. This was also the last occasion that a British regiment took its Colours into action; with heavy casualties, four officers in succession were shot down whilst carrying both the Regimental and the Queen’s Colour.

Sold with copied medal roll extract.