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Auction: 23003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 57

Natal 1906, 1 clasp, 1906 (Lt. E. Brace. Natal Service Corps), light contact wear overall, very fine

Edgar Brace was born at Ballarat East, Victoria, Australia on 12 August 1875, the son of John and Jane Brace. Qualifying as an accountant he attested for the 5th (Victorian) Mounted Rifles, for the service during the Anglo-Boer War. Embarking for South Africa on 15 February 1901 aboard Orient they swiftly began to play an important role in the campaign.

The most notable action the 5th Mounted Rifles took part in was the clash at Wilmansrust in June 1901. The Australians were part of a column at Middelburg in Transvaal. While encamped on 12 June they were ambushed by a large for of Boers, losing 19 dead and 41 wounded. This included five officers wounded one of whom was Brace. At one stage a number of their men were taken prisoner only to be released and this seems to have caused a good deal of tension between the British Generals and Australians.

Somewhat surprisingly given this Brace decided to remain in South Africa, attempting to find employment with the Transvaal Government after the war ended. Unable to do so he returned to Australia and married however he was back in South Africa the next year where he joined the short-lived Natal Service Corps. It was with this unit that he saw action again in the Bambatha Rebellion.

Leaving military service Brace attempted to join the Colonial Service, writing a letter to the High Commissioner, Lord Selborne which gives details of his previous service, stating:

'I served through the late Boer War, was attached to the 85th Kings Shropshire Light Infantry and served on the personal staff of Colonel Sir John Jervis White-Jervis Bart. R.H.A., of which the Rev. Fowler Newton, M.A. was Chaplain and who is now resident at Krugersdorp to whom you could refer if you thought proper.

During the latter part of the war I was Intelligence Officer to Colonel Dawkins R.A. Column and am now on the Reserve of Officers in Australia. In view of my military experience I should like to join the South African Service and would be grateful if Your Excellency would put me in the way of obtaining such a post.'

Unfortunately for Brace he was unable to secure such a post and eventually he returned to Melbourne in 1907. Here he began to find himself in trouble with the law, being found guilty of trespass in 1913 and later that year his wife was granted a divorce, a notice in the Argus in 1920 stating the: 'The grounds of the petition were desertion, repeated acts of misconduct with an unknown woman and, cruelty.'

Brace died in Victoria in 1926; sold together with copied research including census data, service papers and divorce records.

Further entitled to the Queen's South Africa Medal.

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Sold for
£350

Starting price
£200