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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 62

The British South Africa Company's Medal awarded to Mr. E. Ross-Townsend, Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo and a Secretary of State for Southern Rhodesia

British South Africa Company's Medal 1880-1897, reverse Rhodesia 1896, no clasp (Mr. E. Ross-Townsend.), good very fine

Edward Ross Townsend was born at Bedford, Cape Colony in December 1863 and was married at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town in June 1895. That same year he was working for the Civil Service at Mafeking, British Bechuanaland. He thence came to prominence in Southern Rhodesia, being Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo and present for the operations in Rhodesia in 1896. He was elected to the 1903 Legislative Council of Southern Rhodesia as Secretary for Agriculture and re-elected by the British South Africa Company in 1908. Townsend stood down in April 1909 and returned to London, living at Bernard Gardens, Wimbledon. Residing at Worple Road, Wimbledon by 1921 and working as Director of the Tobacco Company of Rhodesia & South Africa, he died at Purley Knoll, Surrey on 2 January 1934.

The Bodleian Library hold files of his papers covering 1896-1906, whilst the South African Archives & Derbyshire Record Office hold various letters. He jointly published Railways in Rhodesia: A few notes on their construction and on the country through which they pass in 1904.

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Estimate
£300 to £500

Starting price
£240