SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL

A SCARCE SOUTH AFRICA 1877-9 TO A TROOPER IN THE FRONTIER MOUNTED RIFLES

SOUTH AFRICA 1877-79, CLASP, 1878 ‘PTE. J. VIETZ. FRONTR. MTD. RIFLES’.

In 1876, Lieutenant-Colonel E. O. Hutchinson raised a unit in Cathcart District, in the Eastern Province, with the title of the Cathcart Mounted Rifles, with a strength of 80; by the following year that strength had increased to 250 men. The unit was re-titled the Frontier Mounted Rifles in 1878.

Approximately 295 South Africa medals awarded to the Frontier Mounted Rifles, 261 with clasp 1877-8. No less than 170 medals were returned unissued.

Condition GVF. A scarce unit due to the number of returned medals.