A good Bambatha Rebellion and later Great War Delville Wood casualty and Prisoner of War group awarded to Trooper A. Quigley, Natal Police, later 2nd Class Warrant Officer, 2nd Battalion, South Africa Infantry and Detective Sergeant, Durban Criminal Investigation Department, South Africa Police who having been 1 of 1082 men of the Natal Police to earn entitlement to the 1906 clasp during the Bambatha Rebellion, would go on to serve during the Great War where he would be wounded at Mersa Matruh in Egypt on 9th January 1916, before later serving on the Western Front where he would be wounded and taken prisoner at Delville Wood on 18th July 1916. After being repatriated at the end of the Great War he would serve as a 1st Class Detective Sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Department in Durban with whom he would earn the South Africa Police Good Service Medal.
Group of 4: Natal Medal 1906, clasp 1906; (TPR. A. QUIGLEY. NATAL POLICE.) British War Medal and Victory Medal, bi-lingual South Africa issue; (2nd C/W.O. A. QUIGLEY. 2ND S.A.I.) South Africa Police Good Service Medal; (NO.2456 1/C DET/SERGEANT A. QUIGLEY.)
Condition;: Good Very Fine
Along with:
2nd South African Infantry Regiment collar badge
South African Infantry shoulder badge.
Metal identity bracelet impressed ‘5596 A. QUIGLEY C. OF E. C.S.M. 2. STH.AFR.INF.’
Andrew Quigley was born in Londonderry, Ireland and would first see service with the Natal Police during the Bambatha Rebellion where he would earn the Natal Medal with clasp 1906, 1 of 1082 men of the Natal Police who did so.
He would later serve during the Great War, attesting into the 2nd Regiment of South African Infantry on 9th September 1915. He would first see service in Egypt where he would be wounded at Mersa Matruh on the 9th January 1916. He would go on to serve on the Western Front and would be present with the 2nd Battalion, South African Infantry during the fighting at Delville Wood on the Somme. Andrew Quigley would be declaring missing on 18th July 1916 and confirmed as a Prisoner of War on 13th August 1916 having been wounded in the left shoulder. Having then been held at Dulman, Minden and Soltar Prisoner of War Camps in Germany for nearly two years, he would be interned in Holland from 13th June 1918, living in the Hague until he was repatriated back to England on 18th November 1918.
On 17 July, the 27th Brigade attacked northwards in Longueval and the 2nd South African Battalion plus two companies of the 1st Battalion, attacked westwards in the wood. The South African attack was a costly failure and the survivors were driven back to their original positions, which came under increased German artillery-fire in the afternoon. In the evening Tanner was wounded and replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel E. F. Thackeray, of the 3rd Battalion, as commander in Delville Wood. The 9th Division drew in its left flank and the 3rd Division (Major-General J. A. L. Haldane), was ordered to attack Longueval from the west during the night. Huge numbers of shells were fired into the wood and Lukin ordered the men into the north-western sector, to support the attack on Longueval due at 3:45 a.m. During the night, the German 3rd Guards Division advanced behind a creeping barrage of 116 field guns and over 70 medium guns. The Germans reached Buchanan and Princes streets, driving the South Africans back from their forward trenches, with many casualties. The Germans spotted the forming up of the troops in the wood and fired an unprecedented bombardment; every part of the area was searched and smothered by shells. During the barrage, German troops attacked and infiltrated the South African left flank, from the north-west corner of the wood. By 2:00 p.m., the South African position had become desperate as German attacks were received from the north, north-west and east, after the failure of a second attempt to clear the north-western corner. At 6:15 p.m., news was received that the South Africans were to be relieved by the 26th Brigade. The 3rd Division attack on Longueval had taken part of the north end of the village and Sixt von Armin ordered an attack by the fresh 8th Division, against the Buchanan Street line from the south east, forcing Thackeray to cling to the south western corner of the wood for two days and nights, the last link to the remainder of the 9th Division.
On the morning of 18 July, the South Africans received support from the relatively fresh 76th Brigade of the 3rd Division, which attacked through Longueval into the south-western part of the wood, to join up with A Company of the 2nd South African Battalion, until the 76th Brigade was forced back by German artillery-fire. In the south, the South Africans recovered some ground because the Germans had made limited withdrawals ready for counter-attacks in other areas. A German bombardment during the night became intense at sunrise and c. 400 shells per minute fell into Longueval and the wood, along with heavy rain, which filled shell-craters. At 3:15 p.m., German infantry attacked Longueval and the wood from the east, north and north-east. Reserve Infantry Regiment 107 attacked westwards along the Ginchy–Longueval road, towards the 3rd South African Regiment, which was dug in along the eastern fringe of the wood, which commanded Ginchy. The German infantry were cut down by small-arms fire as soon as they advanced and no more attempts were made to advance beyond the intermediate line. The main German attack was made by the 8th Division and part of the 5th Division from the north and north-east. Elements of nine battalions attacked with 6,000 men. Infantry Regiment 153 was to advance from south of Flers, to recapture Delville Wood and reach the second position along the southern edge of the wood, the leading battalion to occupy the original second line from the Longueval–Guillemont road to Waterlot Farm, the second battalion to dig in along the southern edge of the wood and the third battalion to occupy Prince's Street along the centre of the wood. At first the advance moved along the sunken Flers road, 150 yd (140 m) north of the wood, which was confronted by the 2nd South African Regiment along the north edge of the wood. By afternoon, the north perimeter had been pushed further south by German attacks. Hand-to-hand fighting occurred all over the wood, as the South Africans could no longer hold a consolidated and continuous line, many of them being split into small groups without mutual support. By the afternoon of 18 July, the fresh Branderberger Regiment had also engaged.
Having been discharged at Maitland, South Africa on 7th May 1919 he would subsequently work as a 1st Class Detective Sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Department at Durban.
