In the Colonies and Boer Republics which became the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...

in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Cape Copper Company Medal for the Defence of O'okiep is a private campaign medal which was instituted by the Cape Copper Company Limited in 1902. The medal was awarded to members of the O'okiep Garrison who defended the town while it was besieged by Boer Commandos from 4 April to 4 May 1902, near the end of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

.South African Medal Website - Unofficial Military Awards
(Access date 27 April 2015)

Cape Copper Company

The Cape Copper Company had its origin in the Cape Copper Mining Company, which was established in 1862 or 1863 as the Cape of Good Hope Copper Mining Company to take over the copper mining properties of Phillips & King, an enterprise which had been involved in copper mining around

O'okiep Okiep is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, and was in the 1870s ranked as having the richest copper mine in the world. The town is on the site of a spring that was known in the Khoekhoe language of the Nama people as ''U ...

in Namaqualand since the 1850s. The Cape Copper Mining Company was restructured as the Cape Copper Company in 1888.

Siege of O'okiep

The

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

was invaded by Boer commandos towards the end of the Second Boer War and the town Concordia, a few kilometres to the north of O'okiep, surrendered to Boer forces on 4 April 1902. From 4 April to 4 May, the town O'okiep was besieged by the Boer forces under General

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

, whose strategy was to capture the rich copper fields and thus force the British to send troops from Cape Town to O'okiep, which would then leave Cape Town vulnerable to attack. The garrison of O'okiep, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W.A.D. Shelton DSO, consisted of some 900 men and included local miners who assisted Shelton's troops. The civilian defenders were mostly employees of the Cape Copper Company, three-quarters of whom were

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

. A chain of blockhouses and other defensive positions had been prepared, and early in the siege the garrison succeeded in repulsing several determined attacks by the commando. However, when the departure of Smuts with a British safe-conduct to the deliberations at

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly si ...

heralded the end of the war, the siege became little more than a good-humoured blockade. NCC Pioneer 0-4-0ST b

On 1 May 1902, the commandos launched an attack on O'okiep, using the commandeered locomotive "Pioneer" of Concordia's Namaqua United Copper Company to propel a mobile bomb in the form of a wagon-load of dynamite into the besieged town. The protective defences at O'okiep consisted of a barbed wire fence, which was erected across the railway line at Braakpits Junction, just north of the town. The points at the junction were rigged to the fence, with the result that when the dynamite laden wagon breached the fence, it derailed at the points and spilled its load of dynamite on the ground, where it burned out harmlessly without exploding. According to Jan Smuts, the railway between the two towns was still intact, but since there were women and children in O'okiep town, all the commando was allowed to do was to give O'okiep a tremendous fright with a harmless explosion. Boer General Ben Bouwer had inspected the trainload before it was sent hurtling into the besieged town, to make sure that there were no caps in the dynamite.

O'okiep Defence Medal

After the war ended, the British government awarded the

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

to all those regular troops who had seen active service in Namaqualand during the war, as well as the

King's South Africa Medal The King's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to all British and Colonial military personnel who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and who were in the theatre on or after 1 January 1902 and who had completed 18 m ...

to those who had seen service on or after 1 January 1902 and completed 18 months service before 1 June 1902. When it transpired that the Coloured members of the O'okiep garrison were precluded from receiving these medals, the Cape Copper Company decided to strike a medal of its own and to present it to all the defenders of the town, regardless of race. Two versions of the Cape Copper Company Medal for the Defence of O'okiep were struck. The bulk were struck in bronze and were awarded to the rank and file of the military and civilian defenders of the town, most of whom were mine workers who had taken part in the defence of O'okiep. A silver medal was awarded to officers, higher ranking mine officials and at least one non-commissioned officer, Paymaster Sergeant Harry Rodda, who was also the paymaster of the O'okiep Copper Company.

Description

;Obverse The Cape Copper Company Medal is a silver or bronze medallion, 36.5 millimetres in diameter with a raised rim, depicting the encircled company emblem, a miner with a spade standing next to a mining

cocopan A minecart or mine cart (also known as a mine trolley or mine hutch) is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern opera ...

, and inscribed "1888" at the bottom and "THE CAPE COPPER COMPANY LIMITED" around the perimeter. ;Reverse The reverse is smooth with a raised rim and is inscribed "PRESENTED TO THE OFFICERS NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE GARRISON OF OOKIEP IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR GALLANT DEFENCE OF THE TOWN UNDER LT. COL. SHELTON. D.S.O. AGAINST A GREATLY SUPERIOR FORCE OF BOERS APRIL 4TH TO MAY 4TH 1902". ;Suspender The medal has a floreated suspender, identical to that of the London-minted version of the India General Service Medal of 1936, but attached to the medal by a pin pressed into the upper edge to allow the medal to swivel. On the India medal the suspender is affixed by means of claws and a pin through the upper edge of the medal. ;Ribbon The ribbon is 1¼ inches wide and dark brown with a ¼ inch wide green band in the centre.

Status

While privately instituted military decorations and medals do not enjoy official status, as a result of not having been formally instituted or sanctioned by the

fount of honour The fount of honour ( la, fons honorum) is a person, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry on other persons. Origin During the High Middle Ages, ...

at the time, and while none of them were therefore allowed to be worn with military uniform, some have become well-known and have acquired recognition in South Africa's military medal history. Four of these decorations and medals are considered to be significant.South African Medal Website - Legal aspects - Fount of Honour
(Accessed 1 May 2015) *

Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry In the Colonies and former Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Sir Harry Smith's Medal f ...

of 1851. * The

Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps Medal In the Colonies and Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Co ...

of 1899. * The

Kimberley Star In the Colonies and Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Kimberley Star is an unoffi ...

of 1900. * The Cape Copper Company Medal for the Defence of O'okiep of 1902.

References

{{South African military decorations and medals Military decorations and medals of South Africa Military decorations and medals of South Africa pre-1952 Copper mines in South Africa Second Boer War 1902 establishments in the British Empire Awards established in 1902