Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State (Ord: J. Combe, Scottish Hos:) edge bruising and contact marks, nearly every fine £200-£240

J. Combe served as an Orderly with the Scottish Hospital in South Africa during the Boer War; the Hospital was organised in the first instance by the St Andrew’s Association and was funded by voluntary donations. The organisation of the hospital commenced in January 1900, the personnel eventually consisting of an officer in charge, 18 civil medical officers, 1 Quartermaster, 1 Warrant Officer, 2 secretaries, 35 nursing sisters of the Army Nursing Service Reserve, 45 first-class orderlies, all of whom were medical students, and 57 second-class orderlies, making a total of 160.

The first section arrived at Cape Town on 13 May 1900, and the hospital was opened for patients on 4 June, at Kroonstadt. Previous to that time, however, the hospital staff had been employed on duty in the military hospitals at Bloemfontein and Kroonstadt. It remained during the whole period at Kroonstadt, and its equipment was handed over to the Government, when it ceased to exist as a private hospital, on 14 October 1900.