Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 25 - Argentum 3 Nov 2018
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Commemorative Medals, South Africa, The Bulawayo Railway, gilt silver oval Ticket or Pass, 4th November 1897, arms and wildebeest supporters, rev. blank, 34 x 25.5mm. (Laidlaw 0751), suspension loop and ring, extremely fine and very rare
*ex W. V. R. Baldwin Collection
ex Baldwin's vault
The railway line from Cape Town reached Vryburg, north of Kimberley, during 1890. It was extended to Mafeking in 1894 and the final link of more than 500 miles north to Bulawayo, in the new territory of Rhodesia, was completed on 19 October 1897. Cecil Rhodes, who financed the project through the British South Africa Company, saw the final track laid at a rate of more than a mile a day. The construction engineer was Harold Pauling. The line was officially opened on 4th November, 1897, by Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner of the Cape Colony. Eight hundred guests arrived for the ceremony on four trains including five MPs from London and even the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. The date was chosen to mark the 4th anniversary of the occupation of Matabeleland. Queen Victoria sent a telegram 'congratulating the inhabitants on the completion of the railway to that place'. The full length of the line from Cape Town to Bulawayo was 1,360 miles
*ex W. V. R. Baldwin Collection
ex Baldwin's vault
The railway line from Cape Town reached Vryburg, north of Kimberley, during 1890. It was extended to Mafeking in 1894 and the final link of more than 500 miles north to Bulawayo, in the new territory of Rhodesia, was completed on 19 October 1897. Cecil Rhodes, who financed the project through the British South Africa Company, saw the final track laid at a rate of more than a mile a day. The construction engineer was Harold Pauling. The line was officially opened on 4th November, 1897, by Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner of the Cape Colony. Eight hundred guests arrived for the ceremony on four trains including five MPs from London and even the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. The date was chosen to mark the 4th anniversary of the occupation of Matabeleland. Queen Victoria sent a telegram 'congratulating the inhabitants on the completion of the railway to that place'. The full length of the line from Cape Town to Bulawayo was 1,360 miles