W Woolmore Collection Anglo Boer War Medals - Aust. S

Lot 3232    SESSION 12 (11.30AM THURSDAY 1ST AUGUST)    W Woolmore Collection Anglo Boer War Medals - Aust. Sin

Estimate $2,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $3,400

QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL 1899 TO WIA, (type 2 reverse with clear ghost dates), - four clasps - Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill. 15 Cpl V.S.Peers, Tasmanian M.R. Impressed. Toned, nearly extremely fine.

Together with the following,
1) Centennial Intercolonial Exhibition Melbourne, Souvenir medal, 1888, in silver (16mm) (C.1888/10), reverse inscribed, 'Victor Peers'.
2) Another as above but in bronze, reverse inscribed, 'Victor Peers'.
3) Soccer prize fob medal in silver (29.5x34mm), with suspension loop, reverse inscribed, 'S K F C/Premiers 1894/V.S.Peers'.
4) Tasmanian Exhibition Hobart, Souvenir medal, 1894-5 (16mm) (C.1894-5/3), reverse inscribed, 'V.P.'
5) Cape Town & Western Province Poultry & Pigeon Society, (1911), in bronze (26mm), with loop suspension, reverse inscribed, 'V.S.Peers./1911.'
6) Railway Horticultural Society Cape Town, (1914), in silver (29mm), reverse inscribed, 'V.S.Peers./Coll. S.A.Plants/11.11.14.'
7) St John's Ambulance Association Re-Examination Medallion, in bronze (4th issue type), reverse inscribed, '240994/Victor S.Peers'.
8) Railways and Harbours Rifles 2nd Battn prize fob medal, (1923), in silver and enamel (31x44mm), with suspension loop, reverse inscribed, '1923/"Advance and Retire"/won by/Pte. V.S.Peers.'

Victor Stanley Peers, born 22Dec1874 at Deniliquin, NSW, was the son of Mr Louis Peers, headmaster of the Zeehan East State School in Tasmania. He was an active member of the Zeehan Company of the Tasmanian Defence Force having joined in 1896. Five members of this Company including Pte Peers were selected to join the Tasmanian Mounted Rifles for service in South Africa.

In an account of his service in South Africa published on the front page of the Zeehan and Dundas Herald on Saturday 3 November 1900 Victor Peers reported one incident in which he was wounded as follows. 'The Tasmanians went to Jasfontein, occupying a few days there in outpost and patrol work. One day, in the course of a reconnaissance, we got into a warm corner, and two of our men - Gilham and Button, both of Ulverstone - were killed; Mr Lambie, the Victorian special correspondent was also shot (and died), while Mr Hales, a correspondent for a Western Australian paper, was wounded and taken prisoner; four of the Tasmanians - Privates Hutton, Swan, Brothers, and Hynes were captured; I had got my horse shot under me, but managed to get away on foot to a kopje.

When I got to the kopje three Boers came up after me, but fortunately for me they came from different directions. They seemed to be very excited. Two of them had to be dealt with at once, but I sent them to their last resting place before they could hit me. I was gradually getting away further from the front to other kopjes nearer the camp, when the third Boer interposed before I had got two hundred yards away. We were about fifteen yards apart. At the same moment we fired at each other, his bullet hitting me in the neck, just behind the ear, and mine going through some part of the chest. The sensation I felt was just as if pricked bv a needle. Having got rid of the Boers, for the time being, at any rate, I made my way around some kopjes, over the veldt, to our camp, a distance of something like six miles. I lost a lot of blood, and felt a bit weak when I reached our lines. It was quite impossible to get to my mates who were taken by the Boers, as they were completely cut off by the Boers, who numbered three hundred, while there were but fifty of us. I certainly did not expect to see so many of my company again, and how they got away is a miracle. I was sent to the Field Hospital at Rendsburg, where I remained two days, then to Naauwpoort, where another couple of days were spent, next into the ambulance train for Cape Town, where I was placed in No. 3 General Hospital.'

With basic research.