Medal for Bravery and Loyalty Guinea 1869-1870

The Dutch Medal for Bravery and Loyalty Guinea 1869-1870 ("Medaille voor Moed en Trouw Guinea 1869-1870") was instituted by a Royal Disposition ("Koninklijk Kabinetsbesluit") of 31 October 1870, No. 38. It was meant as a reward for "natives who had disthinguished themselves with actions of bravery and loyalty during the expedition to the Coast of Guinea in the years 1869 and 1870". The decision to institute the medal was directly linked to the fact that the only medal the Dutch government had to honour 'native' soldiers in its colonial forces, the Medal for Bravery and Loyalty, was expressly intended for soldiers of the Netherlands East Indies Army, as a reward for actions in the Netherlands East Indies.



In 1868, the Dutch and the British reorganised their respective possessions in the Gold Coast (the Coast of Guinea). They redivided them in such a manner, that both nations controlled a continuous strip of land for the first time in over 200 years. The Dutch took over all British possessions to the west of Elmina, and the British took over all Dutch possessions to the East of Cape Coast. In the negotiations leading up to this repartition, the local African polities were hardly consulted, and protests against possible negative political and social-economic effects were brushed aside. Eventually this led to several uprisings in the new Dutch territories, especially in and around Komenda and Sekondi. The Dutch sent an expeditionary force to quash the unrest, and a small colonial war was fought out. In this war, the local Dutch garrison was also involved.

When the war was over, it was felt that several soldiers from the local garrison deserved a medal, for which there was no provision. The new medal amended this. On 10 November 1870, the medals were awarded to the following men:

Pieter van Chama, sergeant
Alexander Prins, corporal
Esson Koffie, private
Ekrom Kwakoe II, private
Jan Plange, private
Kondua Robbena, private
Pieter Robbena, private East Indies Army

With only seven people decorated, the medal has the distinction of being the rarest Dutch official decoration.

The medal itself is hexagonal, made in bronze, and 30 millimetre in width. The front is adorned with the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the insription "MOED EN TROUW 1869-1870". The back carries the inscription "COMMENDAH. ANDEMA-ATJIRM. KWASSIE-KROM.", referring to the three places were battles were fought. The ribbon is divided in three vertical bars of equal width, in the colours of the Dutch flag, red, white, and blue.

Sources:
W.F. Bax, Ridderorden, eereteekenen, draagteekens en penningen, betreffende de Weermacht van Nederland en Koloniën (1813-heden). Maastricht: Van der Dussen, 1973.

H.G. Meijer, C.P. Mulder & B.W. Wagenaar, Orders and Decorations of The Netherlands. Venlo: Van Grinsven, 1984. 2nd revised edition.

Picture of medal courtesy of Robert Prummel, published in Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 (Guinea Medal 1870).

Who Do You Think You Are: Hugh Quarshie

Tonight BBC 1 broadcast the Hugh Quarshie episode of the Who Do You Think You Are series 7. It was my privilege to contribute to the programme in several ways, advising the team, as well as providing materials and contacts. For me the story was not new. Already in 1995, as part of a research project into the Dutch historical presence in Ghana, I visited the Kamerling House in Elmina and Abii village. I met several of the family members and was impressed by their knowledge of their family history.

On my return home,I contacted Eric Kamerling, whom I had known for many years as a fellow genealogist. He showed me the photos and papers from Ghana and told me the story of his great-grand-uncle Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, who went to Africa and had a family there. It is a thrilling story and it was very nice to relive and re-tell it with Hugh and the Wall-to-Wall production team.

Obviously, as is the case with all television documentaries, the story is bigger than the small screen allows for. Additional info on some of the stars from the programme is available in the Gold Coast Data Base. Work on a more complete publication is in progress but requires additional research, both in The Netherlands and Ghana.

One issue brought up in the programme can be addressed here already.



In the episode one of the mysteries is the name of Pieter Kamerling's wife. In family tradition she is called Efua Yenkye (pronounced 'Yentshee'; mis-spelled on the family tree as 'Jensch'). In the Dutch documents she is called Ellen van der Spek, and even signs a document with that name. On screen I say that in my opinion the two ladies are one and the same. It now turns out from new evidence that Efua Yenkye (aka Janet van der Spek) was Pieter's first wife in Ghana. He fell out with her over money and other matters and Janet took Pieter to court over the dispute. It meant the end of that relationship. About a year later he was married to Ellen, in all probability Janet's sister, with whom - as the programme showed so vividly - he had a loving relationship that survived their separation.

Photo's courtesy of Eric Kamerling, Vorden (NL)

Gold Coast DataBase - how it started

12 Jan 2010 - Added collections of photographs and postcards from the 19th and early 20th-century to the features.

5 Jan 2010 - The Gold Coast DataBase TNG-site was completely redesigned on a new, and now hopefully stable, server and at a new address.

1 Jan 2005 - The Gold Coast DataBase first developed as an online system using The Next Generation genealogical software.

2002-2005 - Developed a digital database to hold my research results on Euro-African families in Ghana and the Dutch presence there.

1998-2002 - Co-designed and co-operated in the development of the public programme "Ghana - Netherlands 300 Years Diplomatic Relations"

1994 - Started a funded research programme on the history of the Dutch in Ghana.

1980-1981 - Started research in the Dutch archives into the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands, with a bias towards the genealogy of Euro-African families