Description
Queen’s South Africa medal, type III, clasps “CAPE COLONY”, “ORANGE FREE STATE”, “TRANSVAAL”, “SOUTH AFRICA 1901”, & “SOUTH AFRICA 1902”, impressed “913 PTE F. GREENAWAY. VICTORIAN M.R.”
A fine five clasp Queen’s South Africa medal to the 5th Victoria Mounted Rifle, unfortunately lacking in specific service details which is often the case, otherwise to a recipient much beloved by his community, medal seen some wearing, good Very Fine, reverse better.
Frederick Greenaway, born on the 1st of June 1969 in Deptford, Kent, England, was the son of Mr William Joseph Greenaway and Mrs Elizabeth Ann Sayers, the sibling of Frederick (Jr.), Ada, Alfred and Alice Greenaway, and the husband of Sophie Greenaway. He was listed as a driver by trade and a well-known community member of Panton Hill, Victoria. Greenaway attested for the Victoria (3rd M.D.) Military Forces on the 14th January 1901 for service in the Anglo-Boer war, enlisting as Private 913 of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles. Amongst the 5th VIC. M.R., consisting of 8 companies and 46 officers, totalling 1017 men strong and 1099 horses, Greenaway embarked from Melbourne aboard the Steam ship ‘Orient’ on the 15th February 1901, with the horses aboard the ‘Argus’ and the ‘City of Lincoln’.
- Men of the 5th M.R. disembarked at Port Elizabeth and proceeded to Pretoria to mobilize
- Returned to Australia either on the 27th March 1902 aboard ‘St. Andrew’, disembarking at Melbourne 25th April, or aboard ‘Custodian’ on the 28th March and arrived at Melbourne 26th April
After returning home, Greenaway was welcomed back with open arms by his local community of Panton Hill, having a festive welcome home “Trooper Fred” over two evenings. First was the night of Sunday the 24th May 1902 at the local establishment ‘Hotel de France’, advertised as a joyous “Complimentary smoke night to Trooper Fred Greenaway” and saw an evening of music, food, toasts by many notable community members, and general revelry by people that had known Greenaway since he was a child (per ‘The Evelyn Observer’, 30th May 1902). Two Tuesday’s later, the 3rd of June 1902, a more formal evening at Panton Hill’s Hall was held in which the chairman, Mr C. Marris, awarded Greenaway with a gold medal, which is engraved “Presented to Trooper Fred. Greenaway, 5th V.I.R., on his return from the Boer war, by residents of Panton Hill and district. 3/6/02” on one side and his initials “FG” as a monogram on the other, as well as a gold scarf pin. The joyous evening was described positively in the newspapers “The Evelyn Observer” (06/06/1902), “The Lilydale Express” (13/06/1902) and “The Age” (13/06/1902).