THE ASHANTEE WAR MEDAL AWARDED TO LIEUTENANT (LATER MAJOR) E.B. STEPHENS, ROYAL MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY, HMS SIMOOM, WHO COMMANDED OUTPOSTS IN THE INTERIOR DURING THE ASHANTEE CAMPAIGN OF 1873-74. Ashantee Medal 1873-4, no clasp (officially engraved

THE ASHANTEE WAR MEDAL AWARDED TO LIEUTENANT (LATER MAJOR) E.B. STEPHENS, ROYAL MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY, HMS SIMOOM, WHO COMMANDED OUTPOSTS IN THE INTERIOR DURING THE ASHANTEE CAMPAIGN OF 1873-74. Ashantee Medal 1873-4, no clasp (officially engraved: LT. E.B. STEPHENS. R.M.L.I.H.M.S. SIMOON. 73-74.). Note error in spelling of ship’s name, otherwise Almost Extremely Fine.

Medal accompanied by 4 pages of copied service papers, copied medal roll, confirming medal, extract from 1911 census, London Gazette extracts (Major-General Woolseley’s dispatches for the Ashantee campaign, giving details of that campaign, along with dispatches from other officers serving under Woolseley during the campaign, the various dispatches mentioning the Royal Marines from HMS Simoom on numerous occasions) and extract from 1881 Army List.

Edward Barrington Stephens, born Dublin, Ireland, was first commissioned Lieutenant, Royal Marine Light Infantry on 24/6/1868 and promoted Captain, 1/7/1881 and Major, 24/6/1887. Stephens was placed on the Retired List on 23/7/1892 and in retirement was appointed Recruiting Staff Officer (2nd class) at Hull, 1/7/1895. Whilst resident in Hull, Stephens founded the Hull Scout Movement. Major Stephens died on 27/12/1918. On his retirement, Stephens commuted £137 of his retired pay of £275 per annum in return for a lump sum payment of £1,776.

The then Lieutenant Stephens is confirmed in the history of the Royal Marines as having seen service in the interior during the Ashantee campaign training native Levies. The 1881 Harts Army List confirms “Stephens served in the first phase of the Ashantee war and was in command of the outpost camps of Abbaye and Napoleon (medal).”

Edward Barrington Stephens is recorded in the 1911 census return as being a 60 year old Navy pensioner, Major, Royal Marines, resident at 8 Hinderwell Street, Hull, with his wife, son, Nassau Barrington Stephens, born Ascension Island, 1880, and daughter.

Major Stephens’s son, 2nd Lieutenant Nassau Barrington Stephens, 4th East Yorkshire Regiment, attached Machine Gun Corps, died of wounds on 1/6/1916 at Bailleull.

200 medals to HMS Simoom for the Ashantee campaign, including 7 with Coomassie clasp.

HMS Simoom, launched 1849, was an iron screw frigate of 1,980 tons. She was converted to a troop ship in 1852 and saw service in this capacity during the Ashantee campaign of 1873-74.