medal code J3438

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ASHANTEE MEDAL

THE FINE AND RARE SPECIAL SERVICE OFFICER’S ASHANTEE 1873 MEDAL AWARDED TO CAPTAIN A. W. BAKER, CORNWALL RANGERS (MILITIA), LATE 66TH FOOT, KNOWN AS “BAKER OF THE BOBBIES”, WHO DISTINGUISHED WHO HIMSELF AS INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF ARMED FANTEE POLICE, COMMANDING AN ESCORT FOR MAJOR-GENERAL WOLSELEY DURING THE ADVANCED TO AND BATTLE OF COMMASSIE. VERY MUCH A ‘MAN’S MAN’, WOLSELEY WAS IMPRESSED BY HIM IN BOTH IN A MILITARY SENSE AND FOR HIS STAMINA. KEPT ON IN HIS POSITION POST CAMPAIGN, IN 1877 HE BECAME INSPECTOR-COMMANDANT OF POLICE IN TRINIDAD

ASHANTEE 1873-4, CLASP, COOMASSIE ‘CAPT: BAKER, COMMR. OF POLICE, CAPE COAST CASTLE, 73-74’

Arthur Wybrow Baker was the son of the Reverend John Durand Baker of Bishop’s Tawton, Barnstaple, and the brother of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Durand Baker, K.C.B. Baker was educated at Rugby, originally commissioned into the 66th Regiment in July 1862. Seeing service in the East Indies from 1863, he was advanced to lieutenant in August 1865 and was appointed musketry instructor in November that year. Retiring from the Army in June 1869, in November, he married Flora Louisa FitzsMaurice, daughter of the Hon W.E. FirzMaurice, late 2nd Life Guards.

In December 1872, he was Commissioned Captain in the Cornwall Rangers (Militia) and with news of a coming expedition against the Ashantee, he volunteered his services to the British cause. The following letter to Downing Street from Major-General Wolseley, gives details of Baker’s subsequent appointment as one of Wolseley’s picked Special Service Officers:

“I cannot over state the importance of having this post [Inspector-General of Police] filled at the present moment by an able organizer, and by a man full of energy and of great physical health and strength. No one but a military man would be fit for it, as the efficiency of this police force will depend largely upon the manner in which strict discipline is maintained in it. The management of bodies of armed men is an art that few possess intuitively, and is one that can only be acquired by military service…………

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Condition GVF, with silver ribbon broach bar. Sold with a copy a photograph of recipient in uniform, and copied research. A very fine and a rare award to a Special Service Officer. Ex DNW December 2003.

Code J3438        Price £1895