A Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 3 Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, awarded to Staff Sergeant Farrier A.S. Noakes, 17th Lancers, previously 3rd Militia Battalion, Sussex Regiment, who saw service during the Boer War in South Africa on operations in the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal from February to June 1900. He later ran the Criterion Pub in Gray’s, Essex.
Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 3 Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal; (3419. S.SERJT: FARR: A. NOAKES. 17/LCRS.)
Condition: lightly polished, Very Fine.
Albert Stanton Noakes was born on 8th April 1870 in Bucksgreen, Rudgwick, Sussex, but later moved to Saint Leonard’s on Sea. Working as a farrier, he was also a member of the 3rd Militia Battalion, Sussex Regiment, before attested for service with the regular British Army at Hastings on 4th December 1888, when he joined as a Private (No.3419) the 17th Lancers. Appointed a Shoeing Smith on 17th May 1890, he then attending a veterinary course before being promoted to Sergeant Farrier on 29th October 1891. Promoted to Staff Sergeant Farrier on 30th October 1895, a photograph of Noakes taken in January 1896 along with other members of the Sergeant’s Mess, is now held in the National Army Museum - a copy being included amongst the research.
Noakes transferred to the Army Reserve on 4th January 1899, but with the outbreak of the Boer War, was recalled on 28th December 1899, and then joined his regiment in South Africa on 15th February 1900, being then present on operations in the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Noakes was posted home on 28th July 1900, and discharged on 3rd December 1901, and went to live in Gray’s, Essex. By 1911 he was still living there and working as a farrier for a local brewer. He latterly held the publican’s licence for the Criterion Pub in Last Lane in Gray’s, the licence being passed to him in January 1930. By 1939 he was living in Thurrock, where he died in September 1946.
