Awarded to William Nathan Wrighte Hewett (1834-1888). Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria in a diadem and veil (left) Legend: ‘VICTORIA REGINA. Reverse: A group of soldiers and Africans fighting in the bush for their fallen comrades. Suspended from a bar, and yellow ribbon with a broad black edge and two narrow black central stripes. Bar: ‘COOMASSIE’. Inscription on edge: ‘COMDRE. W.N.W. HEWETT, V.C. H.M.S. ACTIVE, 73-74’.

Hewett was Commodore and Commander-in-Chief on the West Africa Station during the Ashanti War of 1873-4. HMS 'Active' was sent out to Cape Coast Castle in early October 1873 to relieve 'Rattlesnake' following the wounding of Commodore Edmund Commerell in an earlier skirmish. He arrived on 14 December. It was apparent by January that the river Pra did not provide a navigable route into the interior. A road was built and a military force under General Garnet Wolseley, including a naval brigade assembled by Hewett, marched on, and burned the Ashanti capital of Kumasi.