Central Africa Medal

Award

Central Africa Medal

Obverse and reverse of medal,
with Central Africa 1894–98 clasp

Type| Campaign medal
Awarded for| Service in Eastern and Central Africa, 1891–1898
Description| Silver or bronze, 36mm in diameter
Presented by| the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Clasps| Central Africa 1894–98
Established| 1 April 1895

Ribbon bar of the medal

First version of medal, issued without a clasp, with ring suspension

The Central Africa Medal was a British campaign medal awarded for service from 1891 to 1894 in Eastern and Central Africa, and from 1894 to 1898 for service in British Central Africa.

## Criteria

[edit]

Award of the Central Africa Medal was approved by Queen Victoria in Army Order No. 66, 1 April 1895. The initial award was for various military expeditions from July 1891 to June 1894, subsequently extended to the Unyoro Expedition in 1895.[1] It was later authorised for service in British Central Africa from 1895 to 1898. The main causes of these expeditions were to suppress slave-trading or to punish raids on neighbouring tribes.[2]

Most medals were awarded to members of the Indian Army and British-led local forces. No British Army units were present,[2] although some British officers and non commissioned officers seconded to local units received the medal, as did a small number of Royal Navy personnel.[3]

## Appearance

[edit]

The medal is 36 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter. It was issued in silver to combatants, while native porters and authorised servants received the medal in bronze.[4]

The medal uses the same design as the Ashantee Medal and the East and West Africa Medal, although with a different ribbon.

The obverse depicts the left facing effigy of Queen Victoria wearing a diadem with a veil behind. On either side is the inscription VICTORIA on the left and REGINA on the right.[1] The designer was Leonard Charles Wyon.[3]

The reverse bears a scene, inspired by the Ashanti War, of British soldiers fighting the Ashanti in the jungle. It was designed by Sir Edward John Poynter.[5]

The ribbon, 31.7 millimetres (1.25 in) wide, has three equal stripes of black, white and pale brown, also described as copper or terra cotta,[1] worn with the black to the left when facing the wearer.[6] The colours symbolise the troops who took part – African, European and Indian.[4]

The recipient's name and unit were usually engraved or impressed on the rim of the medal, although some were issued unnamed.[2]

## Suspension and clasp

[edit]

The first version of the medal, authorised in 1895, has a swivel ring suspension and was issued without a clasp. This covered ten small Central African campaigns between 1891 and 1895, eight in the vicinity of Lake Nyassa in what is now Malawi, and two in the Unyoro and Mruli districts in Uganda.[3]

A clasp, Central Africa 1894–98, was authorised in August 1899.[7] When the medal was issued with the clasp, it hung from a straight bar suspension,[8] with existing recipients of the medal having the ring suspension replaced.[3] The medal and clasp were awarded for a number of small expeditions between 1894 and 1898 near Lake Nyassa, and one in 1897 against Chief Mpezeni in present-day Zambia.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Volume 2. A. Constable. pp. 398, 425–426.
2. ^ a b c D.W Collett. Medals Yearbook, 1981. p. 97\. 1981. ISBN 0950694312.
3. ^ a b c d e Joslin, Litherland and Simpkin (1988) (1988). British Battles and Medals. pp. 174–5. Published Spink, London. ISBN 978-0-907605-25-6.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
4. ^ a b John Mussell (ed). (2014). Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 157\. Token Publishing Ltd. Honiton, Devon. ISBN 9781908828163.
5. ^ "Ashantee Medal 1873–74". Northeastmedals.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
6. ^ "Medals of the World United Kingdom: Ribbon Chart". Retrieved 6 February 2018.
7. ^ Narbeth, Colin (2002). Collecting Military Medals: A Beginner's Guide. Cambridge, England: Lutterworth Press. p. 48\. ISBN 9780718890094.
8. ^ Steward, William Augustus (1915). War Medals and Their History. S. Paul. pp. 228–229.

* v
* t
* e

British campaign medals

18th century|

* Naval General Service Medal (1793–1840)
* Naval Gold Medal (1793–1815)
* Military General Service Medal (1793–1814)

19th century|

* Army of India Medal (1803–26)
* Army Gold Cross/Army Gold Medal (1806–14)
* Waterloo Medal (1815)
* South Africa Medal (1834–6, 1846–7, 1850–3)
* Ghuznee Medal (1839)
* First China War Medal (1839–42)
* Jellalabad Medals (1841–2)
* Candahar, Ghuznee, Cabul Medal (1842)
* Medal for the Defence of Kelat-I-Ghilzie (1842)
* Scinde Medal (1843)
* Gwalior Star (1843)
* Sutlej Medal (1845–6)
* New Zealand Medal (1845–7, 1860–6)
* Punjab Medal (1848–9)
* India General Service Medal (1852–95)
* Baltic Medal (1854–5)
* Crimean War Medal (1854–6)
* Indian Mutiny Medal (1857–8)
* Second China War Medal (1857–60)
* Canada General Service Medal (1866–70)
* Abyssinian War Medal (1867–8)
* Ashantee Medal (1873–4)
* South Africa Medal (1877–9)
* Afghanistan Medal (1878–80)
* Kabul to Kandahar Star (1880)
* Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal (1880–1, 1896–7)
* Egypt Medal (1882–9)
* Royal Niger Company Medal (1886–97)
* North West Canada Medal (1885)
* East and West Africa Medal (1887–1900)
* British South Africa Company Medal (1890–7)
* Central Africa Medal (1891–8)
* India Medal (1895–1902)
* Ashanti Star (1895–6)
* Queen's Sudan Medal (1896–8)
* East and Central Africa Medal (1897–9)
* Queen's South Africa Medal (1899–1902)
* Queen's Mediterranean Medal (1899–1902)
* Transport Medal (1899–1902)
* China War Medal (1900)
* Ashanti Medal (1900)

20th century
pre-First World War|

* King's South Africa Medal (1902)
* Africa General Service Medal (1902–56)
* Tibet Medal (1905)
* Natal Native Rebellion Medal (1906)
* India General Service Medal (1909)

First World War|

* 1914 Star
* 1914–15 Star
* British War Medal
* Mercantile Marine War Medal
* Victory Medal (United Kingdom)
* Victory Medal (South Africa)
* Territorial War Medal

Inter-World Wars|

* Naval General Service Medal (1915)
* General Service Medal (1918)
* India General Service Medal (1936)

Second World War|

* 1939–1945 Star
* Atlantic Star
* Arctic Star
* Air Crew Europe Star
* Africa Star
* Pacific Star
* Burma Star
* Italy Star
* France and Germany Star
* Defence Medal
* War Medal 1939–1945
* Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
* Africa Service Medal
* India Service Medal
* New Zealand War Service Medal
* Australia Service Medal
* Southern Rhodesia Service Medal

Post-Second World War|

* Korea Medal (1951)
* Nuclear Test Medal (1952)
* General Service Medal (1962)
* Rhodesia Medal (1980)
* South Atlantic Medal (1982)
* Gulf Medal (1992)

21st century|

* OSM for Sierra Leone (2000)
* OSM for Afghanistan (2002)
* OSM for Democratic Republic of Congo (2003)
* Iraq Medal (2004)
* Iraq Reconstruction Service Medal (2004)
* Civilian Service Medal (Afghanistan) (2011)
* Ebola Medal (2015)
* General Service Medal (2008) (2015)
* OSM for Iraq & Syria (2017)
* Humanitarian Medal (2023)
* Wider Service Medal (2024)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template