The superb South Africa Mashonaland 1897, Boer War Relief of Ladysmith and Great War Western Front group awarded to Warrant Officer 2nd Class J. Cargill, 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, formerly a Trooper in the British South Africa Police and a Corporal in Bethune’s Mounted Infantry. From Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland, he initially saw service with the British South Africa Police during the British South Africa Company’s Mashonaland 1897 operations which lasted from 24th March 1896 to 31st October 1897. With the Colonial Forces, he then saw service during the Boer War as a Corporal with Bethune’s Mounted Infantry, being present on operations in the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, including the forcing of the Tugela and the relief of Ladysmith during February 1900, followed by the operations in the Transvaal including the action at Laing’s Nek. By the outbreak of the Great War was living and working as a clerk out in Canada at Victoria, British Columbia, and then saw continuous service out on the Western Front from September 1915 through to September 1918, working his way up the ranks from Trooper to Warrant Officer 2nd Class and Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant.
Group of 5: British South Africa Company Medal 1890-1897, reverse Mashonaland 1897; (513 TROOPR. J. CARGILL, B.S.A. POLICE); Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 7 Clasps: Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek, South Africa 1901; (726 CPL. J. CARGILL. BETHUNE’S M.I.); 1914-1915 Star; (107158 TPR. J. CARGILL. 2-CAN. MTD. RIF.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (107158 W.O.CL.2. J. CARGILL. 2-C.M.R.), mounted swing style as worn, all with old ribbons.
Condition: first with heavy edge bruise at 3 o’clock, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Together with the original large format Overseas Military Forces of Canada Warrant of Appointment to be a Warrant Officer 2nd Class, issued to John Cargill, dated for 17 February 1918, and issued on 7 June 1920.
John Cargill was born on 15 June 1877 in Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland, but then went to South Africa, where he joined as a Trooper (No.513) the British South Africa Police, and saw service during the British South Africa Company’s Mashonaland 1897 operations which lasted from 24th March 1896 to 31st October 1897, one of 688 men of his unit present. With the onset of the Boer War, he then saw service in the Colonial Forces as a Corporal (No.726) with Bethune’s Mounted Infantry, being present on operations in the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, including the forcing of the Tugela and the relief of Ladysmith during February 1900, followed by the operations in the Transvaal including the action at Laing’s Nek, before being present on the further operations through into 1901.
Cargill then emigrated to Canada, where he found work as a clerk whilst residing in Victoria, British Columbia, where he was when he enlisted into the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 8 December 1914. Appointed as a Trooper (No.107158) to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, he embarked for England and then the Western Front where he arrived on 22 September 1915. Appointed to Lance Corporal on 23 February 1916, and then appointed to Lance Sergeant on 7 June 1916, he was promoted to Sergeant on 3 July 1916 just at the start of the Battle of the Somme.
Cargill was promoted to Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 18 November 1916, and was then appointed to Acting Battalion Quartermaster Sergeant on 17 February 1918, being on the same date confirmed in his appointment to Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant and promoted to Warrant Officer 2nd Class. He however contracted appendicitis, and was evacuated to England on 29 September 1918, being at Seaford on the termination of hostilities. Cargill returned to Canada and was demobilised at Vancouver on 7 March 1919.
