PRIVATE T. GARDNER, 3RD (MILITIA) BATTALION ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT. Queen’s Mediterranea

PRIVATE T. GARDNER, 3RD (MILITIA) BATTALION ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT. Queen’s Mediterranean Medal 1899-1902 (officially impressed: 2682 Pte. T. GARDNER. RL: W. KENT REGt.). Small, neat, horizontal test mark to rim at 5 o’clock, which scores through and partially obliterates the L of RL in naming, otherwise attractively toned and Almost Extremely Fine.

Medal accompanied by 4 pages of copied Militia attestation papers, medal roll etract, confirming medal, extract from Colonel George Jackson’s “History of the Militia”, confirming the 3rd Battalion Royal West Kents saw service in Malta during the Boer War and extract 1911 census.

Thomas Gardner was born in Islington, London, circa 1880. He enlisted into the 3rd Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment in London on 15/9/1899, 26 days before the outbreak of the Boer War. Gardner never rose above the rank of Private and was discharge “time expired” on 14/9/1905.

Thomas Gardner is recorded in the 1911 census as a 32 year old married man, employed as a car washer, and living in Holloway, London, with his wife and two children.

Colonel Jackson Hayes’s “History of the Militia” confirms that the 3rd Royal West Kents were embodied during the Boer War from 11/12/1899 to 10/6/1901 and saw service in Malta, 1900-1901.