South Africa Medal 1877-79

Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria with a diadem, hair tied in a knot (left) Legend: 'VICTORIA REGINA'. Reverse: a lion crouching to drink, a bush behind. Exergue: A Zulu ox-hide shield crossed with four assegais. Legend: 'SOUTH AFRICA'. Fitted with a cusped bar and buff ribbon with two broad blue stripes near the edge and two narrow inner ones. Bar: '1877-8'. Inscription on edge: 'J.PEARCE P.O.1 CL. H.M.S. ACTIVE'.

John Pearce (1843-1923) was the son of a farm labourer, born at Boarhunt, a village just north of Portchester. He entered the Royal Navy on 26 October 1860 as a boy 2nd class. He served initially in ‘Edgar’, Flagship of Rear Admiral John Elphinstone Erskine in the Channel Squadron. Between 1862-1869 he was in HMS ‘Lily’ and ‘Royal Alfred’ on the North America Station. He was a coastguard boatman from 1875-77 on the books of ‘Warrior’. He was in ‘Active’ from 15 April 1877 to 25 October 1879 during the 9th Xhosa War and Zulu War. He was promoted to Petty Officer, First Class in HMS ’Excellent’, he was also briefly on the books of ‘Inconstant’, ‘Alexandra’, ‘Rupert’ and ‘Duke of Wellington’ during 1880, before being pensioned on the 13 October that year.
He married Emily Emma Canner in 1881 and settled in Portsmouth, where he worked as a labourer in the Naval Dockyard. After Emily Emma died in 1890, he remarried Ellen Marsh Attrill in 1894. John Pearce died in in Fareham in 1923.