6:00pm Wednesday 28th July 2010
A RARE medal exceeded expectations at auction, when a mystery bidder paid £28,800 for the piece of local history.
The silver South African Campaign medal was awarded posthumously to Oxfordshire soldier Sub-Lieutenant Thomas Llewlyn George Griffith, who was killed at the Battle of Isandlwana on January 22, 1879.
Sub-Lt Griffith, 21, was one of 2,300 men to die in the battle between 20,000 Zulu warriors and 1,700 British and Colonial Troops, which was portrayed in the 1979 film Zulu Dawn.
He was the youngest of five officers from 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, to be killed there.
He had lived at The Parsonage in Chadlington, and his father, the Rev Thomas Llewelyn Griffith, had been the curate of the village.
It had been expected to sell for between £24,000 and £28,000.
The auctioneer and medal expert at Spink, Oliver Pepys, said: “The fact that he was killed in action meant it would raise a good price.
“It sounds morbid, but if they were killed in action, it shows the receiver was definitely in the heat of battle.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/trade_directory/