Description
Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal, 2 bars, Transkei, Basutoland, Private A. C. Willis, Cape Town Rangers. A rare issue of 2 bars for successive campaigns.
Officially engraved naming: “Pte A. C. Willis. C. T. Rang.”
Multiple bars to this medal are rare, about 5252 medals were awarded in total, only 585 have two bars.
An interesting entitlement for service in the Basuto “Gun War” of 1881 and the Transkeian Rebellion which occurred around the same time.
The Basutoland campaign was particularly messy as following the Xhosa/Zulu wars of the last few years, a law was made for all “natives” to surrender their weapons. The Basotho Chiefs mostly refused and chose to rebel against the Cape Colony when ordered to surrender their guns, the Colonial Cape Forces took many casualties in an attempt to quell the rebellion and enforce the new law, being preyed upon by guerilla warfare tactics and the rebels superior knowledge of the lands allowing them to carefully ambush any isolated units when the opportunity arose.
With another rebellion occurring in Transkei, the strain on the Cape Colony Government was becoming too much and was on the verge of bankruptcy, it was forced to make peace, surrendering the lands to the Basotho and their unrestricted access to firearms for a fee of 5,000 Cattle.
