Orders, Decorations & Medals - Aust. Singles

Lot 3121    SESSION 13 (2.30PM THURSDAY 25TH MARCH)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Aust. Singles

Estimate $1,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $2,400

QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL 1899, (type 3 reverse), - five clasps - Cape Colony, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen. Lieut: C.G.Anderson, N.S.Wales M.R. Engraved. Dark toned good very fine.

Charles Godfrey Anderson, recorded in Murray as Captain, C Sqdn 1st NSW Mounted Rifles.

In The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 17 January 1900, page 8 it was reported as follows.
'Officers Leaving For The War
Captain Charles Godfrey Anderson, who goes as lieutenant with the Mounted Infantry unit, holds his commission in "B" battery of the New South Wales Field Artillery. He is a native of Sweden, but has lived in this colony about 20 years. He is 37 years of age. He received his commission at the end of 1895, and has since passed for the rank of major. He is on the Engineers' staff as military surveyor and engineer. By profession he is a licensed surveyor. He was on the trigonometry staff at the Lands Office before joining the artillery, and passed an examination for draughtsman in the Lands Department. He received his first appointment in 1893, and was made a first lieutenant on January 31,1896.'

In another report in The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 27 June 1905, page 9 - 'In 1905 Lieutenant Anderson, who was receiving a service pension, was seeking compensation for wounds received when a Boer shell exploded and he was still suffering from the injuries.'

A further newspaper article published in The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Saturday 8 July 1911, page 8 stated.

'Suicide's Strange Request.
A magisterial inquiry was held at the Court House, Hunter's Hill, in connection with the death of Charles Godfrey Anderson, aged 54, a resident of Dick-street. The evidence showed that deceased had been in ill health for some considerable time past, and was always in acute physical pain. On the evening of his death, about 7.45 p.m., deceased was lying on his bed in his room, when he called his wife from an adjoining room to put out the light. Thinking he wished to sleep, she complied with the request, but had hardly quitted the room when she was startled by a loud explosion, and on rushing back to ascertain the cause, was horrified to see her husband apparently dead, with a rifle protruding from under the bed-clothes.

Constable Kenny, of Gladesville, was immediately informed, and proceeded at once to the scene, together with Dr. Vickers, who pronounced life extinct, the bullet having passed upwards through the neck into the brain, coming out through the top of the skull. The firearm used was a regulation military rifle, and soft nosed bullet, causing a frightful wound, and practically instantaneous death. The finding was that the deceased, Charles Godfrey Anderson, died from the effects of a rifle shot wound, inflicted by himself.'

Then in The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 20 June 1913 a memorial notice was posted. It read as follows, 'ANDERSON.-In sad but loving memory of my dear husband and our father, Captain Charles Godfrey Anderson, late of N.S. Wales military forces and South Africa, who departed this life June 20, 1911, Dick-street, Henley, Parramatta River. Inserted by his loving wife and children, Henry G. Anderson and Annie L. Reid. Sadly missed.'