Great Britain: Boer War: Majuba Wiped Out

Form:

Circular with attached loop. Red white, blue and black enamel. Uniface

By:

John Millward Banks, Birmingham

Date:

1900

Ref:

AM: 29; Hern: 74; Laidlaw: 0489;

Variations:

Size	Metal	Mass	Value
17.2 mm	Enamelled Gilded Silver	2.1 gm	$420

Edge:

Plain.

Obverse:

Across, in tall white enamelled letters: “MAJUBA” across which are three horizontal red lines. The central line is wider with: “WIPED OUT” in black (or white) enamel. In blue enamel, above: “1881” in a shallow arc, and below: “1900” across.

Reverse:

At the top, silver hallmark for Chester 1899-90 (letter Q) ans marker’s mark: “J.M.B”. A variety (probably made later) has a registration number: “RD 354308” at the top and the hallmarks are at the bottom.

Notes:

During the Second Anglo-Boer War, “Remember Majuba” was a rallying cry of British soldiers. It referred to the British defeat at Battle of Majuba Hill on 27th February 1881 during the First Anglo-Boer War. Exactly 19 years later, on 27th February 1900, General Piet Cronjé and 4,000 of his men surrendered after the British victory at the Battle of Paardeberg. In the jingoistic poem, The Absent-Minded Beggar, by Rudyard Kipling, there is a line which reads: “He is out on active service, wiping something off a slate”. Hence the wording on the medal: “MAJUBA WIPED OUT” signifies the restoration of British pride.