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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 70

The rare British North Borneo Company's Medal awarded to District Officer N. B. Baboneau, British North Borneo Company, latterly 2nd Lieutenant, Essex Regiment, who served either side of the Great War in North Borneo, being killed in the service in Tambunan in 6 December 1920

British North Borneo Company's Medal 1888-1916, silver, 1 clasp, Rundum (Mr. N. Baboneau.), impressed naming, very fine

Noel Blake Baboneau - or Boneo to his friends and comrades - was born at Chinsurah in Bengal on 23 December 1884, he was educated at Brighton College.

The Rundum campaign of 1915-16 consisted of a small force under Mr A. W. I. Bunbury. It started with a revolt was caused by a combination of heavy taxes, forced labour, and restriction on traditional activities like salt usage imposed by the British Company. Baboneau served as a District Officer and was active in the interior region of North Borneo, specifically around the Rundum area, trying to manage and suppress the insurrection led by local Murut warriors, notably one named Blayong. He was accompanied by Dayak police and travelled to the Sungai Solidi area and to the house of a Murut named Siluang in attempts to track down, negotiate with, or confront the uprising leaders. A combination of Europeans, some 110 Sikhs and natives, relieved the village of Rundum which was besieged by local insurgents. The medal and clasp was issued to all participants (Spink records list a total of 98 recipients).

Baboneau returned to the U.K. at some point after the action at Rundum and originally enlisted as a Private (31633) in the Essex Regiment, however he was commissioned Second Lieutenant into the Essex Regiment on 22 November 1916. Baboneau saw active service in France and was entitled to a British War and Victory Medal Pair. After the war he returned back to North Borneo however Baboneau was murdered in Tambunan on 6 December 1920. He had been on the telephone to his office in Keningau at the time. A policeman Police Constable Lima (420) shot him and then turned the gun on himself, Lima was a Dusun of the Tuaran district of Sabah. His father J. T. Baboneau applied for his Great War medals on 9 June 1922 and these were sent to his address of Normanholt, Tower Hill, Dorking, Surrey. Baboneau left his estate of £154 1S. 8d. to his father.

"Most of the villages of which Mat Saleh had taken control were glad to see him finally defeated. He had reminded them of the bad old days when there was no safety for the weak. Chiefs of localities which had been independent now asked the Government to take them under its control. So it was that by the year 1900, apart from a few small differences, Sabah was united within the frontiers it has today. One of these exceptions was Pensiangan, which the Chartered Company Government had not then reached, although within a few years it did so. Peace reigned in all parts. In spite of this a great rising of the Muruts unexpectedly occurred in 1915. There seemed to be little reason for it, yet a large area near Pensiangan and Rundum suddenly burst into fierce rebellion. Mr. Baboneau, the District Officer, organized a gallant defence of Rundum against thousands of tribesmen, men whom he had considered to be his friends. When they failed to storm the Government station, the rebels went into a rough fortress on a near-by hillside. Soon Government reinforcements arrived, and about a hundred men went into action against this fort. It was completely destroyed, many rebels were killed and the Rundum rebellion was utterly defeated. To this day nobody really knows why it ever happened; there was a story which many Muruts believed that a Prophet wanted them all to come together in a huge cave in order to show the greatness of the Murut race; the Muruts who lived near Pensiangan did this after attacking Mr. Baboneau. The cave become a fortress and the trouble quickly grew worse. It was a great tragedy."

He is commemorated in the Brighton College Chapel.

For the Medals of his brother, please see Lot 132.

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Estimate
£2,800 to £3,200

Starting price
£2800