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East & West Africa Medal 1887-99
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. Bars: '1891-2'. Inscription on edge: 'K. FARWELL, P.O. 2ND CL., H.M.S. THRUSH'.
Kennet Farwell (1865-1902) was born in Chideock, Dorset, the son of Thomas Farwell, a labourer. Thomas's occupation is given as ‘seaman’ at the time of his marriage in 1860. He died in 1865, aged 46, when Kennet was an infant and his wife Catherine remarried shortly afterwards. Kennet joined the Royal Navy as a boy 2nd class in June 1881 in the training ship ‘Boscawen’. He was rated Ordinary Seaman on 7 February 1883. From 1 October 1883, he was in the corvette, HMS ‘Champion’ on the China Station, until she returned home and was decommissioned prior to a refit on 18 July 1887. He was rated Able Seaman from November 1884. During 1888-89 he served in HMS ‘Monarch’ and was promoted to Leading Seaman, then in ‘Camperdown’, the flagship of the Channel fleet, from May 1890 to August 1891, now a Petty Officer, 2nd Class. Whilst he was in ‘Thrush’ from September 1891 to December 1892, men from this vessel were landed as part of a naval brigade in a punitive expedition in the Gambia against Chief Fodé Kaba Doumbouya (1818-1901). This local ruler had attacked an Anglo-French boundary commission. Although Marige and other villages were burned, Fodé Kabba escaped. Between 1893-6, Farwell served in ‘Tourmaline’ on the North American and West Indies Station, and in ‘Caesar’ during 1897-99 in the Mediterranean. He was in HMS ‘St George’ which served as escort to the Royal Yacht ‘Ophir’ during a tour of the British Empire by the future George V and Queen Mary in 1901. Shortly afterwards, on 17 October the same year, he married Julia Mary Diment, formerly Silk, a schoolmistress of his own age in Symondsbury, Dorset.
Farwell died in service in 1902 and is buried in Clayhall Naval Cemetery, Gosport.
Kennet Farwell (1865-1902) was born in Chideock, Dorset, the son of Thomas Farwell, a labourer. Thomas's occupation is given as ‘seaman’ at the time of his marriage in 1860. He died in 1865, aged 46, when Kennet was an infant and his wife Catherine remarried shortly afterwards. Kennet joined the Royal Navy as a boy 2nd class in June 1881 in the training ship ‘Boscawen’. He was rated Ordinary Seaman on 7 February 1883. From 1 October 1883, he was in the corvette, HMS ‘Champion’ on the China Station, until she returned home and was decommissioned prior to a refit on 18 July 1887. He was rated Able Seaman from November 1884. During 1888-89 he served in HMS ‘Monarch’ and was promoted to Leading Seaman, then in ‘Camperdown’, the flagship of the Channel fleet, from May 1890 to August 1891, now a Petty Officer, 2nd Class. Whilst he was in ‘Thrush’ from September 1891 to December 1892, men from this vessel were landed as part of a naval brigade in a punitive expedition in the Gambia against Chief Fodé Kaba Doumbouya (1818-1901). This local ruler had attacked an Anglo-French boundary commission. Although Marige and other villages were burned, Fodé Kabba escaped. Between 1893-6, Farwell served in ‘Tourmaline’ on the North American and West Indies Station, and in ‘Caesar’ during 1897-99 in the Mediterranean. He was in HMS ‘St George’ which served as escort to the Royal Yacht ‘Ophir’ during a tour of the British Empire by the future George V and Queen Mary in 1901. Shortly afterwards, on 17 October the same year, he married Julia Mary Diment, formerly Silk, a schoolmistress of his own age in Symondsbury, Dorset.
Farwell died in service in 1902 and is buried in Clayhall Naval Cemetery, Gosport.
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Object Details
| ID: | MED0123 |
|---|---|
| Collection: | Coins and medals |
| Type: | War medal |
| Display location: | Not on display |
| Creator: | Poynter, Edward John; Wyon, Leonard Charles |
| Events: | Second African Wars, 1891-1892 |
| Vessels: | Thrush 1889 (HMS) |
| Date made: | circa 1891 |
| People: | Farwell, Kennet |
| Credit: | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |
| Measurements: | Overall: 36 mm |