Medal Rolls for the 1896 Star and W.A.F.F

[AndrewM]

Hello,

I have a copy of McInnes and Fraser's Ashanti 1895-96, but as they note, this does not include the various West African Hausas.

Could anyone tell me if rolls for the 1896 Star do exist for these units, or perhaps for the West African Frontier Force (pre-WW1 period), into which some of these units were amalgamated?

Regards,

Andrew

[SWB]

Hi Andrew,

Medal roll WO100/79 has 2WIR, Hausa Force and Gold Coast Constabulary units (ref: Medals The Researcher's Guide, William Spencer, TNA 2006).

You should find them on Ancestry.

Regards
Meurig

[AndrewM]

Hello Meurig,

As always, thank you for your quick reply and advice.

Just A couple of questions. Regarding WO100/79, if McInnes and Fraser quote the complete roll (Ashanti 1895-96), it essentially only lists Officers from the Hausas and not enlisted (native) men (apparently there were 100 from the Lagos Hausas and 643 from the Sierra Leone Hausas).

Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean by Ancestry? My knowledge of researching individual names is ordinary, and I wouldn't know where to start searching for WO100/79.

Kind regards,

Andrew

[SWB]

Morning Andrew,

I have just looked at McInnes & Fraser and it would appear they deliberately excluded the ORs from the Gold Coast Constabulary, Lagos Hausas and Sierra Leone Hausas. But they included the WIR. I wonder why they exlcuded these men?

Ancestry = Ancestry.com/Ancestry.co.uk - http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1686. You will need a subscription to access these rolls.

Regards
Meurig

[AndrewM]

Again,

Thank you Meurig - I greatly appreciate your help.

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Pgeddes]

"I wonder why they exlcuded these men?"

If I recall correctly, the Hausas were all classed as 'constabulary' rather than true military, whereas the WIR were well trained professional soldiers.

Precedent may also have played a role in the decision, as soldiers from the West India regiments had been awarded medals for previous campaigns, not to mention the fact that officers and men of the regiment had won several DSOs, DCMs and two VCs over the twenty years or so previous to the 1895 campaign.

This is just supposition on my part of course, and I would be very happy to be shot down if anyone knows anything concrete about why constabulary would not have been awarded a campaign medal.