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Auction: 21103 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction 4
Lot: 326

A rare Sanna's Post D.C.M. awarded to Trooper V. D. Todd, Roberts Horse for twice braving the viciously accurate Boer fire at Sanna's Post while trying to round up horses for the guns and later volunteering to rescue the unit's doctor from the ambush

Distinguished Conduct Medal, E.VII.R. (Tpr: V. D. Todd. Robert's Horse.), good very fine

One of 12 D.C.M.'s awarded for the action at Sanna's Post

Van Dyke Todd was born in 1970 the son of George Todd of Jefferson, Texas. He joined Robert's Horse during the Second Boer War and is listed on the medal roll entitled for a Queen's South Africa medal with clasps for the Relief of Ladysmith, Johannesburg, Paardeberg and Driefontein. At some point he was seconded to the Imperial Light Horse with whom he qualified for the Orange Free State and Transvaal clasps.

Todd's moment came during the disastrous battle of Sanna's Post, on 31 March 1900, in which De Wet's Commando ambushed a British mounted column under General Broadwood. This engagement saw the heroic stand of 'Q' Battery, Royal Horse Artillery which resulted in the award of five Victoria Crosses, and in the first use of Article 13 since the Indian Mutiny. Another VC was awarded to Lieutenant Francis Maxwell, Queensland Light Horse who was instrumental in the recovery of several guns under heavy fire. It was in similar fashion that Todd won the D.C.M., volunteering to ride out of cover to round up horses to carry off the guns. The History of Lumsden's Horse, by H. H. S. Pearse, recounts his actions:

'The coolest deed of all, however, was done by an American named Todd, a Trooper in Robert's Horse. With a comrade he had first volunteered to go out and bring in some stray horses for the disabled guns. Before they had ridden fifty yards the second trooper was shot dead, but Todd galloped on straight towards the Boers, rounded up both horses, and had nearly brought them back when one was killed. (…) Todd heard an officer asking for volunteers to go out in search of their doctor who was lying wounded in a donga. Without waiting to hear more the trooper turned his horse's head towards the Boer lines again and galloped off. Twenty minutes later he rode back slowly, bearing a heavy burden in his arms. 'I couldn't see the doctor anywhere, he said 'but I have brought back the only wounded man that I found alive there.'

Robert's Horse suffered losses of 1 officer and thirty other ranks killed, 6 officers and 50 other ranks wounded and 70 taken as prisoners of war. Having left Robert's Horse at some point in 1901 Todd joined the Corps of Cattle Rangers on 26 April 1901 only to be discharged for misconduct later that year on 25 November. The next month on 16 December 1901 he joined the Imperial Light Horse at Green Point, Cape Town, listing 15 months with Roberts Horse for previous experience.

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Sold for
£2,500

Starting price
£1400