PRIVATE W. BAXENDALE, 2ND BATTALION LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS. Queen’s South Africa Medal, type

PRIVATE W. BAXENDALE, 2ND BATTALION LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS. Queen’s South Africa Medal, type 2, 8 clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902, officially impressed (3776 Private, Lancashire Fusiliers). Attractively toned, Almost Extremely Fine.

With 7 pages of photocopied service papers. William Baxendale was born in Bolton, Lancashire. He enlisted at Bolton on 27/8/1891. At the time of enlistment he was 18 years and 8 months old, gave his trade as labourer and stated that he had previously seen service in the Militia with the 4th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. Bolton never rose above the rank of Private, and during his first period of service he saw active service with the Lancashire Fusiliers in Sudan, 11/1/1898 – 8/10/1898 (awarded Queen’s Sudan Medal and Khedive’s Sudan Medal with Khartoum clasp) and during the occupation of Crete, 9/10/1898 – 3/12/1898 (no medals awarded for this incident). Baxendale was transferred to the Army Reserve on 26/5/1899, but was recalled to the colours following the outbreak of the Boer War, on 13/11/1899, and saw service in South Africa with the Lancashire Fusiliers, 2/12/1899 – 25/8/1902 (also entitled 2 clasp KSA). Baxendale was transferred to the Army Reserve for a second time on 26/8/1903 and did not see any further service with the colours. In addition to serving in Sudan, Crete and South Africa, Baxendale also saw service in India from 21/11/1892 to 10/1/1898 and Malta from 9/10/1898 to 3/12/1898

Medal accompanied by photocopied extracts from medal rolls. The QSA roll initially credits Baxendale with the Cape Colony clasp, but this was subsequently struck out, which may indicate that it had already been issued or that Baxendale was for some reason not entitled (the Cape Colony clasp was issued to a majority of the men of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers). The roll also confirms Orange Free State, Transvaal, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith and Laing’s Nek clasps. King’s South Africa medal roll confirms SA01 and SA02 clasps. The rivets on this medal look to be original and it appears to be entirely as issued. I suspect that the Cape Colony clasp was either issued prior to his entitlement being struck from the roll, and that the medal was issued with the SA01 and SA02 clasps in error. Alternatively, Baxendale may have been issued with a KSA with duplicate SA01 and SA02 clasps. An interesting curiosity.