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South Africa Medal 1877-79, clasp, 1879 to Brennan, 3rd Foot (The Buffs)
South Africa Medal with 1879 Clasp, to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd The East Kent Regiment of Foot (known as "The Buffs”.) The Medal has the "1879" Clasp with ornate Medal suspender, and ribbon in gold with dark blue stripes. The obverse depicts Queen Victoria facing leftwards, with "VICTORIA REGINA" inscription. The reverse depicts a crouching African lion besides a potea shrub, with lower Zulu shield and four assegais weapons.
The Medal is correctly named: "992. Pte E. Brennan. 2-3rd Foot.
edge bruise and contact marks, otherwise nearly extremely fine.
Some History on the 2nd Battalion, 3rd The East Kent Regiment:
The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It originated in 1572 and was therefore one of the oldest regiments in the British Army, in which it ranked third in order of precedence.
It provided distinguished service over a period of almost four hundred years, in which it earned one hundred and sixteen battle honours. In 1881, under the Childers Reforms, it was named the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and later, on 3 June 1935, was renamed the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).
n 1858, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in Malta. Lieutenant John Cotter, Adjutant of the 2nd Buffs, would shout "Steady, The Buffs!", a phrase which has entered common parlance. The 1st Battalion saw action in the Taku Forts action during the Second Opium War as well as in the Perak War while the 2nd Battalion saw action in the Anglo-Zulu War.[
Some History on the Anglo-Zulu War:
The Anglo-Zulu War, or simply the Zulu War, was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Isandlwana and the British defence at Rorke's Drift.
Following the passing of the British North America Act 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might lead to a ruling white minority over a black majority in South Africa. This would yield a large pool of cheap labour for the British sugar plantations and mines, and was intended to bring the African Kingdoms, tribal areas, and Boer republics into South Africa.
In 1874, Sir Bartle Frere was appointed as British High Commissioner for Southern Africa to effect such plans. Among the obstacles were the armed independent states of the South African Republic and the Zulu Kingdom.[9]
Frere, on his own initiative, sent a provocative ultimatum on 11 December 1878 to Zulu King Cetshwayo. Upon its rejection, he ordered Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand. The war had several particularly bloody battles, including an opening victory for the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana, followed by the defence of Rorke's Drift by a small British Garrison from an attack by a large Zulu force. However, the British eventually gained the upper hand at Kambula, before taking the Zulu capital of Ulundi. The British eventually won the war, ending Zulu dominance of the region. The British Empire made the Zulu Kingdom a protectorate and later annexed it in 1887.
The war dispelled prior colonial notions of British invincibility, due to their massive early defeats. Together with famines, diplomatic misadventures, and other unpopular wars overseas (such as the Second Anglo-Afghan War), it contributed to the ejection of Benjamin Disraeli's government from office in 1880, after only one term.
