SOLD! Rare WW1 South African Medal Trio to Sergeant E G Ansley of the SA Motor Cycle Corps/8th SA Infantry

An extremely rare WW1 South African Medal Trio to Sergeant E G Ansley of the SA Motor Cycle Corps/8th SA Infantry. 

1914-15 Star, South African Victory and War Medals all named and mounted on a metal bar.

With original ribbons

With copies of research materials on the SA Motor Cycle Corps

Ansley enlisted as a Private in the 8th South African Infantry Regiment, although it is likely that he served with another unit before this given that he received the 1914-15 Star.

His service number does not appear on his Medals making it harder to find his records.

The South African Motor Cycle Corps

The South African Motor Cyclist Corps was formed in January 1916 under the command of Colonel James Fairweather. He was an Anglo Boer war veteran who had been awarded the D.S.O for "very good service at Patriots Klip, Cape Colony on 15th December 1901" and Mentioned in Dispatches twice. He had also seen recent service in German West Africa where he was again Mentioned in Dispatches. The Corps was made up mainly of railway men, possibly because of their familiarity with things mechanical, who were paid five shillings and six pence per day. The Corps hat badge with a winged wheel reflected the men's origin as it was very similar to the badge used by Railway units.

The Corps was formed into eight platoons, plus a Headquarters Section. Each platoon had its own motor mechanic and there were also mechanics and signallers in the Headquarters Section. In February 1916, while the Corps was still in training at Potchefstroom, 50 of the most promising men were chosen to go early to East Africa as dispatch riders. They were told that they were likely to go into action very soon after landing so while the ship was still at sea their machines were brought up out of the hold and set up on deck.

The remainder of the Corps sailed from Durban for East Africa early in April 1916 on the S.S. Huntsgreen. Captain Duncan McMillan, Adjutant and former Engineering Professor at Cape Town University, gave lectures on motor cycles during the voyage. Smallpox broke out on board and after they landed the Corps was taken by train into quarantine near Voi. They were kept isolated for three weeks and during this time the cyclists* heard their first lions. The initial ride was to Moshi, over 100 miles away, with the last part being ridden in darkness. As compensation, the cyclists saw the splendour of Mount Kilimanjaro by moonlight. The next ride was to Kondoa-Irirangi along a very rough road that was in turn sandy and deeply rutted by motor lorries. The machines sank in the sand down to the B.S.A.'s footboards. Several river crossings had to be negotiated by manhandling the motorcycles. Each B.S.A. was carried on two poles by four men.

As they were arriving at Kondoa-Irangi the Germans fired 20 shells at them from one of the naval guns salvaged when the Konigsberg, the ship that inspired Shout at the Devil, was scuttled. The riders were spread out about 100 yards apart and none of them was hit. Motorcycle patrols were regularly sent out from Kondoa-Irangi looking for Germans during the six weeks the Corps was based there. Riders out on patrol were often away for long periods and had to be constantly on the alert.

Lieutenant Jackson led a patrol for over 200 miles in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the German Central Railway that linked Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean with Lake Tanganyika on the Belgian Congo border. In June 1917 two riders, Hyland and Harvey, who were camped out in the bush near Lupembe while on patrol, were rushed by Germans at midnight while they were asleep. They were both captured and their B.S.A.s smashed.

The story of the German East Africa campaign was one of continual pursuit of the 'wily' German commander von Lettow-Vorbeck whose objective was to tie up as many British and Allied troops as possible to prevent their involvement in the conflict in Europe. From Kondoa-Irangi the Corps rode to Dodoma and was the first unit to enter the town on 27th July 1916, arriving just after the Germans had withdrawn. The pursuit of von Lettow-Vorbeck's troops continued and following "a sharp engagement" by the S.A.M.C.C. on the 14th August 1916 at Kidete, Lieutenant Hall was awarded the Military Cross and Sergeant Coles the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

The November 23rd 1916 issue of The Motor Cycle described the load carried by the B.S.A.s in German East Africa:

Do any of the 400 B.S.A.s used in East Africa still exist? There are no known surviving records listing frame or engine numbers of the machines used in the campaign. All the Birmingham Small Arms records relating to this time were destroyed during the November 1940 air raid on Armoury Road which killed 53 B.S.A. workers. Very little has been published about the S.A.M.C.C. and their exploits in German East Africa except for the B.S.A publication and articles in The Motor Cycle. There are some records in South Africa, but as researcher Gordon Bickley said, "the WW1 Records are indexed in a completely random fashion and nothing is where one hopes it will be listed!! It takes literally HOURS to work one's way through the Index's!!" There may be a dusty file box containing a list of frame and engine numbers lying untouched. It is not known how many of the machines returned to South Africa with the Corps or how many were left behind in East or Central Africa. It is entirely possible that ex S.A.M.C.C. B.S.A.s do exist that can be provenanced back to when first found in Burundi, Rwanda, Tanganyika or as war surplus in South Africa.

Captain F. J. Ashley of the S.A.M.C.C., in With the flag through German East Africa, has the last word when he wrote that, "if ever I wish to think of a combination of grit and reliability I need only think of a S.A. (Motor) Cyclist on a B.S.A. with fifty miles of G(erman) East Africa in front of him."

*Note: Documents and dispatches of the time referred to the men of the South African Motor Cyclist Corps as 'cyclists.'