Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Nyasaland 1915 (L. S. Norman. Nyasaland Vol: Res:) very fine £300-£400

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, Medals from an Africa Collection.

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L. S. Norman was a tobacco farmer in Nyasaland, and saw active service with the Mikalongwe Section, Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve during the Chilembwe Revolt in 1915, and then with the Nyasaland Field Force during the Great War from 5 September 1914 (entitled to 1914-15 Star trio).

Norman wrote an article titled “Rebellion” about his own experiences during the revolt of 1915. It was published in Blackwoods Magazine in 1931, and the following extract gives a flavour of his experiences:

‘A dispatch rider had just arrived. I was to get Mrs Black to safety and advise everyone, in fact to hurry to safety at the mobilization point. We were soon drenched by the wet grass which overhung the narrow path where we stumbled in the ark. Suddenly the stillness was broken by the noise of a number of hurrying bare feet, the grass rustled with the passage of the approaching forms. The natives carrying the children fled, the lady screamed. The grass was so thick it was impossible to see farther than a yard.

Slamming home my rifle-bolt I challenged loudly. No answer - the persons continued to approach only a few yards away. As the grass suddenly parted before a hurrying form my finger was on the trigger. Simultaneously I recognised a voice. It was the Indian trader.”

Norman is also mentioned in Memories of an African Hunter, by D. D. Lyell - the latter being a friend of his.

Sold with copied research.