The Central Africa Medal was a British campaign medal awarded for service from 1891–1894 in Eastern and Central Africa, and from 1894–1898 for service in

British Central Africa The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits ...

Criteria

Award of the Central Africa Medal was approved by Queen Victoria in Army Order No. 66, 1 April 1895. The initial award was for various military expeditions from July 1891 to June 1894, subsequently extended to the Unyoro Expedition in 1895. It was later authorised for service in British Central Africa from 1895–1898. The main causes of these expeditions were to suppress slave-trading or to punish raids on neighbouring tribes. Most medals were awarded to members of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

and British-led local forces. No British Army units were present, although some British officers and non commissioned officers seconded to local units received the medal, as did a small number of

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

personnel.

Appearance

The medal is in diameter. It was issued in silver to combatants, while native porters and authorised servants received the medal in bronze. The medal uses the same design as the

Ashantee Medal The Ashantee Medal is a British campaign medal instituted on 1 June 1874. It was awarded to British, Colonial and allied native forces, under the command of Major General Sir Garnet Wolseley, who were deployed against the army of the Ashanti K ...

and the

East and West Africa Medal The East and West Africa Medal, established in 1892, was a campaign medal awarded for minor campaigns that took place in East and West Africa between 1887 and 1900. A total of twenty one clasps were issued. Awards of the medal covered punitive exp ...

, although with a different ribbon. The obverse depicts the left facing effigy of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

wearing a

diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', " ...

with a veil behind. On either side is the inscription ''VICTORIA'' on the left and ''REGINA'' on the right. The designer was

Leonard Charles Wyon Leonard Charles Wyon (23 November 1826 – 20 August 1891) was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of ...

. The reverse bears a scene, inspired by the

Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. Though the Ashanti emerged victori ...

, of British soldiers fighting the Ashanti in the jungle. It was designed by Sir

Edward John Poynter Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy. Life Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, ...

. The ribbon, wide, has three equal stripes of black, white and pale brown, also described as copper or

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, worn with the black to the left when facing the wearer. The colours symbolise the troops who took part – African, European and Indian. The recipient's name and unit were usually engraved or impressed on the rim of the medal, although some were issued unnamed.

Suspension and clasp

The first version of the medal, authorised in 1895, has a swivel ring suspension and was issued without a clasp. This covered ten small Central African campaigns between 1891 and 1895, eight in the vicinity of Lake Nyassa in what is now

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...

, and two in the Unyoro and Mruli districts in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

. A clasp, ''Central Africa 1894–98'', was authorised in August 1899. When the medal was issued with the clasp, it hung from a straight bar suspension, with existing recipients of the medal having the ring suspension replaced. The medal and clasp were awarded for a number of small expeditions between 1894 and 1898 near Lake Nyassa, and one in 1897 against Chief

Mpezeni Mpezeni (also spelt ''Mpeseni'') (1830–1900) was warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups of central Africa, based in what is now the Chipata District of Zambia, at a time when the British South Africa Company (BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes was tr ...

in present day

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

References

{{British campaign medals British campaign medals