1st Royal Warwickshires Queen Sudan and Khedives Sudan Pair. Straham.

Correctly named Queens Sudan Medal 6179 Pte G Straham 1/R War R

Khedives Sudan Medal unnamed.

The rolls confirm the awarding of both medals and we see his surname as Strahan instead of Straham on one roll.

At first we struggled to find a 6179 Pte G Straham of the 1st Warwicks but eventually came across 6179 Pte WJ Straham 1st Warwicks.

With an assumption this is our man, Walter James was born in Islington in 1877 and attested for service in 1895 whilst working as a labourer.

His papers see him leave for Malta in March 1896 and serve there until July 1898. Then he headed to Egypt where he was until October 1898 then onto the East Indies.

The papers also confirm the award of both medals.

Sudan

Atbara, 8th April 1898

The 1st Battalion Warwicks were brigaded under General Gatacre in Kitchener’s Reconquest of the Sudan 1896-98. Also in this brigade were the Lincolns, Seaforths and Cameron Highlanders. They attacked the Dervish camp at the confluence of the Nile and River Atbara, and defeated the army of Osman Digna after 45 minutes of fighting. The battalion was commanded by Lieut-Col Morey Quayle Jones who later commanded the 2nd Battalion. Other officers of the regiment mentioned in Kitchener’s despatch were Major Landon, Lieut F A Earle and Lieut Greer.

Omdurman, 2nd Sep 1898

The decisive battle of Omdurman was fought by Kitchener’s reinforced army of 8,200 British and 17,600 Sudanese – Egyptian troops against an army of 52,000 Dervishes. The Warwicks were brigaded with the same regiments as before, under Gatacre. Additionally there was a second brigade of British infantry. The unfortunate Dervishes were mown down by the artillery and Maxim guns and they lost 9,700 killed, 13,000 wounded against British loses of 47 killed and 340 wounded.

Battle Honour and Campaign Medal for the Battle of Omdurman:

There was official dispute as to whether the battle was to be called ‘Omdurman’ or ‘Khartoum’.  The battle is widely called ‘Omdurman’, but the battle honour ‘Khartoum’ was awarded to: 21st Lancers, Grenadier Guards, Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Lincolnshire Regiment, Lancashire Fusiliers, Seaforth Highlanders and Cameron Highlanders.

The campaign medals awarded were the Queen’s Sudan Medal 1896-1898 and the Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1896-1908, with the clasp on the Khedive’s medal of ‘Khartoum’.

Both medals have original silk ribbons.