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Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 109

(x) The impressive and well-documented 'Jameson Raider's' group of five to Driver L. C. Kennedy, Royal Australian Artillery, late Kitchener's Horse and Matabele Mounted Police, who rode in Jameson's notorious raid through Transvaal and is mentioned in the diary of Major White, Jameson's Chief of Staff

Serving as a Maxim Gunner during the 1896 Matabele Rebellion, he fought at the decisive action in the Umlugulu Valley. During the Second Boer War he served with Kitchener's Horse, before emigrating to Australia. He re-enlisted into the First Australian Imperial Force, and was posted to the Gallipoli theatre during the Great War

British South Africa Company's Medal 1890-97, reverse Rhodesia 1896, no clasp (Tpr. L. C. Kennedy. M. R. F.); Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, South Africa 1901 (3324 Tpr L. C. Kennedy. Kitchener's H.); 1914-15 Star (573 Dvr. L. C. Kennedy. 1/F.A. Bde. A.I.F.); British War and Victory Medals (573 Dvr. L. C. Kennedy 1/F.A. Bde. A.I.F.), the first with light contact marks, overall very fine, mounted as worn (5)

The British South Africa Company's Medal is an official replacement, confirmed as having been awarded to Kennedy in 1908. He lost his original Medal in 1905, while taking part in The Duke of Connaught's Review.

Leslie Coleridge Kennedy was born at 26 Walton Road, Kirkdale, Lancashire on 8 January 1876, the son of a physician. He enlisted into the Matabele Mounted Police at Cape Town in October 1895, and was encamped at Pitsani on the Bechuanaland/Transvaal border one month later, when Dr. Leander Starr Jameson began recruiting for a raid into Transvaal. The discovery of gold at Johannesburg in 1884 had caused an influx of British settlers into the Boer territory of Transvaal. The Boers responded by protecting their gold mines with trade restrictions, and limiting the voting rights of non-Boers. The British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, and the President of Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes, drew up plans for a martial show of force to deter Paul Kruger's government from further discriminating against 'Uitlanders' (outsiders). Some 600 men, including The Matabele Mounted Police, were placed under the command of Dr. Jameson, whose orders were to support an anticipated Uitlander uprising in Johannesburg. When the uprising never transpired, Rhodes sent an urgent telegram to Jameson, ordering him to stand down. It was too late.

During the early hours of 29 December, the Jameson Raid began. The nominal roll of the Jameson Raiders (TNA, CO 179/193) confirms Kennedy as having entered the Transvaal as a member of 'C' Troop, Matabele Mounted Police. Jameson hoped for a 3-day dash to Johannesburg, before the Boer commandos could mobilise. To cover his tracks, he ordered all telegraph wires to be cut. Unfortunately, the telegraph wires to the Boer capital of Pretoria remained intact, enabling the Boers to track Jameson's movements from the moment he crossed the border. The Raiders were fired upon by a Boer outpost at 6 a.m. on 1 January. Six hours later, having advanced twenty miles, they fought a sharp skirmish with Boer marksmen in entrenched positions at Krugersdorp. They withdrew south-east in an attempt to outflank the Boers, but were confronted by a far larger force waiting for them at Doornkop. After an initial firefight in which thirty Raiders were killed, Jameson saw the hopelessness of his situation and surrendered. His entire column was imprisoned by the Boers at Pretoria, with international repercussions. The German Kaiser, sympathetic to the Boer cause, sent a telegram to Paul Kruger congratulating him on his success.

Kennedy was briefly imprisoned by the Boers, before being deported to England. His name appears on a list of deported Raiders compiled at the time (TNA, CO 179/193). He sailed aboard S.S. Harlech Castle on 24 January 1896, along with many other 'Mounted Policemen', and is mentioned on the ship's passenger list, which incorrectly gives his age as 22 (TNA BT 26 Piece No 89). He reached Plymouth on 26 February 1896.

The Raid's ringleaders were less fortunate. Despite being lionised in the British press, Dr. Jameson and Major White, his Chief of Staff, were put on trial in London in 1896. Joseph Chamberlain publicly condemned the Jameson Raid, and Cecil Rhodes was forced to resign as Prime Minister of Cape Colony. Major White's pocket diary, captured by the Boers and sent to London for the trial, was used as evidence to incriminate him. One of the excerpts read out in court was a roll call of men recruited by White at Pitsani in November 1895. Kennedy's name appears on this list. The diary, which includes hand-drawn maps of the actions at Krugersdorp and Doornkop, is held at The Bodleian Library (MSS. Afr. S. 220, p132).

Bulawayo to the Dardanelles

He may have been spared the trial, but Kennedy was still under contract to the British South Africa Company. He sailed back to Cape Town with nineteen other Mounted Policemen aboard S.S. Norman on 28 March 1896, disembarking in mid-April. In March 1896, while the British were distracted, the Matabele people of Rhodesia saw a chance to gain their independence. Hundreds of white farmers were massacred by the tribesmen, the survivors making their final stand at Bulawayo. Colonel Plumer was given command of the Matabeleland Relief Force, in which Kennedy served as a trooper. Several years later, Kennedy wrote a letter to Major Gordon, the Military Secretary at Cape Town, claiming to have served: 'all through the Matabele Campaign as a Gunner in Maxim Detachment M.R.F.' The Maxim Detachment played a vital role in suppressing the Matabele. An armed clash in the Umlugulu Valley on 5 August was reported by The Times in the following terms:

'The natives fought steadily and well up to the moment of the arrival of the British reinforcements, but then they broke and ran for their lives, the Maxims doing great execution among them as they fled.'

The Matabele Relief Column was then disbanded, having achieved its mission, and Kennedy resided at 2 Adams Street, Cape Town. He enlisted into Kitchener's Horse on 2 February 1900, serving during the Second Boer War, but avoided the fate of approximately 100 men of that unit who were overwhelmed by General Christiaan de Wet's forces at Paardeberg and forced to surrender. He transferred to the South African Light Horse at Maitland, Cape Town on 3 January 1901, becoming Sergeant Major of the Regiment. He was discharged as 'time expired' on 5 September 1901, receiving £8 5s 8d in back pay. He retired to Arklow Villas, Upper Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.

Re-entering military service, Kennedy joined the Cape Field Artillery as a driver on 5 July 1905. While taking part in the Military Review held by His Royal Highness the Duke Connaught in September 1905, Kennedy lost his original British South Africa Company Medal. He paid 8 shillings for an official replacement, which was sent out to him by the Military Secretary on 29 September 1908. Kennedy's application for a replacement Medal is held at the Cape Archive Repository (KAB GH 35/250).

Kennedy emigrated to Australia in 1908, working as a painter in Sydney. He married a widow, Harriet Armstrong, fathering two children. The family lived at 15 Trafalgar Street, Enmore. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, he immediately enlisted as a Driver in the 1st Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column (BAC), First Australian Imperial Force. He sailed with the first A.I.F. convoy, leaving Sydney on 18 October 1914. After a wait at Albany in Western Australia, he boarded S.S. Argyllshire, bound for Egypt, reaching Alexandria on 5 December. Billeted at Mena Camp, he joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 4 April. His unit boarded S.S. Indian and sailed for Lemnos in preparation for the Gallipoli landings. He appears to have been wounded at Gallipoli, for he embarked T.S. Ballarat at Alexandria on 5 July, 'for transport to Australia for the purpose of discharge', and was described as 'medically unfit'. He was discharged on 5 December. He died on 2 June 1945, his occupation given as 'book keeper'.

Sold with a copy of Nigel Robson's definitive article, 'Leslie Coleridge Kennedy: a Raider Revealed', OMRS Journal, December 2011, Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 207-214.

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Sold for
£1,900