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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 180

'Harry St. George Galt was a fine specimen of Anglo-Saxon manhood; a plucky young fellow, a good shot, a good friend, what would be called a good all-round sport; and had a widowed mother and sister dependent on him. He was more than usually popular with the natives among whom he lived. Yet on the above date [19 May 1905], as he sat in front of his grass hut, a young native, named Lutakara, came up and, without warning, stabbed him, running a spear into his lungs, near his heart. He was alone at the time and, according to the report of his own native servants, ran to the cook's hut and, gasping out that he had been attacked, fell to the ground, the blood gushing from his mouth and the wound. He died in a few minutes, far from his own kind, in an African forest with only African savages about him … '

Some African Highways, by Caroline Kirkland, refers.

An emotive East and Central Africa Medal awarded to Harry St. George Galt, Acting Sub-Commissioner for the Western Province of Uganda, who was speared to death by an Ankole native at Ibanda on 19 May 1905

East and Central Africa 1897-99, 1 clasp, Uganda 1897-98 (Mr. H. S. Galt), good very fine

Harry St. George Galt first entered Uganda's Protectorate Service as a 3rd Class Assistant Collector in the Political Department in December 1897 and quickly witnessed active service in the operations of 1897-98; as per a War Office letter dated 26 January 1901, his East and Central Africa Medal & clasp was delivered to the Foreign Office.

In July 1899, Galt was appointed a Collector at Mbarara Station on an annual salary of £400 but not all was plain sailing. In September 1900, he was the subject of an official complaint lodged by Captain Hornby, D.S.O., Uganda Rifles. Whilst employed as Acting Collector at Nandi, Galt had offended the former by use of disparaging language, or certainly according to a report submitted by H.M. Acting Deputy Commissioner at Entebbe:

'I regret, however, to see that from Captain Hornby's letter that he complains of Mr. Galt having made disparaging remarks, at an official discussion, and before a third person, about one of his senior officers, and also about a branch of the service to which he has the honour to belong. I am calling upon Mr. Galt to withdraw whatever remarks he may have made, and tender an apology.'

Whether such an apology was forthcoming remains unknown, but Galt appears to have returned to the U.K. on sick leave shortly thereafter.

The events of his subsequent murder by an Ankole native at Ibanda on 19 May 1905 have been described above; he was at this juncture an Assistant Secretary to the Uganda Administration but acting as a Sub-Commissioner for the Western Province of the Protectorate.

The complex nature of case is the subject of an extended - fascinating - article in the Uganda Journal by H. F. Morris (March, 1960), but by way of conclusion, the following excerpt from Vincent Harlow's History of East Africa neatly summarises the outcome of the investigation:

'In two successive investigations, George Wilson pinned the blame on a conspiracy of Nyankole chiefs against the British, and upon his recommendation the Ankole Agreement was suspended, heavy fines in cattle were imposed on the Mugabe, the Nganzi, and the senior chiefs, and the three counties around the scene of the crime had their tax hut doubled. But it proved to be a completely isolated incident and, thanks to the appeals of some British officers in the region, the punishment meted out, though resented, was not nearly as arbitrary and promiscuous as the Nyankole had first feared. Clearly one of the keys to the British in having their authority lay in their care not to provoke their subjects into violent opposition.'

Postscript

In Some African Highways, Caroline Kirkland states:

'As a parting gift my brother-in-law gave me the kiboko, or rhinoceros hide whip, which Mr. Galt always carried with him through African solitudes, swamps and jungles, which was hanging on his wrist when he was murdered, and which now hangs in my room. I never knew Mr. Galt but the sight of the rude leathern thong often brings up, not only the vision of a brave young Englishman, the only son of a widow, but of the plucky fellows who are out there in those wildernesses working out the destiny of the Dark Continent.'

Galt's sister, Miss L. Galt, was awarded a gratuity of £225 in September 1905; sold with an extensive file of copied research.


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