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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 58

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (T. Glasgow. Kroo: H.M.S. Tartar.), contact marks and wear, nearly very fine and rare

Approximately 21 Medals to the Kroomen of Tartar, of these 15 were returned to the Royal Mint for disposal, their recipients not being easily traced.

Tom Glasgow hailed from the famed Kroo/Kru Tribe of Sotta Krou in West Africa and were invaluable to the Royal Navy. They are recalled by Horatio Bridge, a United States Navy Officer:

'The Kroomen are indispensable in carrying on the commerce and maritime business of the African coast. When a Kroo-boat comes alongside, you may buy the canoe, hire the men at a moment's warning, and retain them in your service for months. They expend no time nor trouble in providing their equipment, since it consists merely of a straw hat and a piece of white or colored cotton girded about their loins.

In their canoes, they deposit these girdles in the crowns of their hats; nor is it unusual, when a shower threatens them on shore, to see them place this sole garment in the same convenient receptacle, and then make for shelter. When rowing a boat, or paddling a canoe, it is their custom to sing; and, as the music goes on, they seem to become invigorated, applying their strength cheerfully, and with limbs as unwearied as their voices. One of their number leads in recitative, and the whole company respond in the chorus. The subject of the song is a recital of the exploits of the men, their employments, their intended movements, the news of the coast, and the character of their employers. It is usual, in these extemporary strains, for the Kroomen attached to a man-of-war to taunt, with good-humored satire, their friends who are more laboriously employed in merchant vessels, and not so well fed and paid.

Their object in leaving home, and entering into the service of navigators, is generally to obtain the means of purchasing wives, the number of whom constitutes a man's importance. The sons of "gentlemen" (for there is such a distinction of rank among them) never labour at home, but do not hesitate to go away, for a year or two, and earn something to take to their families. On the return of these wanderers—not like the prodigal son, but bringing wealth to their kindred—great rejoicings are instituted. A bullock is killed by the head of the family, guns are fired, and two or three days are spent in the performance of various plays and dances. The "boy" gives all his earnings to his father, and places himself again under the parental authority. The Krooman of maturer age, on his return from an expedition of this kind, buys a wife, or perhaps more than one, and distributes the rest of his accumulated gains among his relatives. In a week, he has nothing left but his wives and his house."'

Glasgow is confirmed upon the Medal Roll as this no-clasp award being forwarded to him aboard the Beagle in September 1902. He perhaps settled - like many Kroomen did - in Cardiff after his service, as there are several men of this name who served with the Merchant Navy during the Great War.

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Estimate
£160 to £200

Starting price
£130