ashantee war

[amethyst]

Hi
came across this site after extensive trawling the net. Have an interest in ashantee war are after being given a Queen Mary tim full of family medals. My partner and I have interest in military things so the gift was quite exciting. At bottom of tin was 1873/74 ashantee medal with hms amethyst on side and great grandads name. I note that in some of the ongoing communications there was mention of if you state a name a check could be made on a roll.
Is it posible to see if John Kingslake is mentioned anywhere. We know he survived the war/s as he eventually turns up as coastguard in the poole area and has a grave.
Any information would be nice.

[Mark]

Hi amethyst

A warm welcome to the forum, you will find there are several Ashantee War enthusiasts here who will no doubt be able to answer your question.

I hope you enjoy your time here with us.

Mark

[DavidB]

Hi Amethyst,
The ship you've taken your name from was indeed on the Gold Coast for the Ashantee campaign.
The first thing to note is that most naval personnel remained aboard ship and hence didn't participate in the campaign directly. The Naval Squadron did however land a naval brigade of bluejackets and marines which took part in the land campaign with the army.

The only Navy medal roll I have the for the campaign is for those men of the Naval Brigade who were entitled to the clasp for Coomassie (ie they served with the army north of the river Prah). This roll includes 36 men of HMS Amethyst led by Lieut. Mann, but I'm afraid John Kingslake isn't on this one.
So most likely he remained aboard ship, but there's still a small chance he served ashore but didn't qualify for the clasp.

To be honest, with any naval other ranks of this period, your first plan should be to download the service record which should be easily available from TNA website http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7372351&queryType=1&resultcount=1. I'm guessing this is him?

Lastly, here's a few images of the Ashantee campaign from the Illustrated London News site which may interest you, the Naval Brigade wearing their distinctive sennet hats.
http://www.ilnpictures.co.uk/showimage.asp?imagename=/files/ilng/images/products/76734_124442.jpg
http://www.ilnpictures.co.uk/showimage.asp?imagename=/files/ilng/images/products/76624_124342.jpg
http://www.ilnpictures.co.uk/showimage.asp?imagename=/files/ilng/images/products/76451_123708.jpg
http://www.ilnpictures.co.uk/showimage.asp?imagename=/files/ilng/images/products/76441_123698.jpg

[Jonathan]

Hello, amethyst, and welcome to the forum. It looks like amoaful has a good start for you!

Jonathan

[Ashantee73]

Hi,
Just had a quick look through the medal rolls, I came across the following
Kingslake J Ord Smn HMS Amethyst, no clasp medal
228 medals without clasp issued to the ship plus 38 with clasp.

Cheers
Ashantee73

[siegebatteries]

Hi

Great! Someone else with an ancestor involved in the Ashantee War.

My chap didn't get a clasp cos he served on the coast and didn't go into the hinterland - but it would appear that all the crew of Amethyst got a medal. According to http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=100, the ship's complement was 225 men and if Ashantee73 says the medal role lists 228 for Amethyst, then that must have included everyone.
Also, if you'd like picture of the ship, look at
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/amythist_class_corvette.htm#HMS%20Amethyst.
You will note that the first website also lists ADM 135/16 for the ship's books - and that is a TNA reference - so good hunting!

(My avatar shows my GGrandfather wearing his Ashnatee medal in the late 1920s/early1930s - and very proud of it he was!)
Peter

[siegebatteries]

Forgot to ask - what other delights were in that tin?