Sergeant Arthur Horatio Still, 12th Lancers

Up at Noonans medal group for sale :-

The unique campaign group of five awarded to Sergeant A. H. Still, 12th Lancers, who served in both the Zulu and Ulundi campaigns, and was later a Yeoman of the King’s Bodyguard

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1878-9 (Sergt. A. H. Still. 12th. Lancers.); Coronation 1902, bronze, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1911, unnamed as issued; Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., 3rd issue, small letter reverse (First Class Sergt. Instr. A. H. Still Bomby. Unattd. List); Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (Trp: S. Mjr: A. H. Still. 12/Lrs:) contact marks and minor edge
Only two members of the 12th Lancers received the South Africa Medal 1877-79 - Sergeant Still, with the clasp 1878-9; and Brevet Major J. C. Russell, with the clasp 1879. Still’s award is therefore a unique award to the regiment

Arthur Horatio Still was born in St. Luke’s, London, on 21 January 1853 and attested for the 12th Lancers on 2 November 1869. Appointed Drill Sergeant, he embarked for South Africa from Dartmouth on the Walmer Castle on 31 May 1878, and landed at the Cape of Good Hope on 25 June 1878 - one of only a handful of cavalrymen to proceed to South Africa, he had been sent (along with an officer of the 12th Lancers) to South Africa for the specific purpose of improving the Mounted Infantry’s Drill.

Still entered Natal on 2 August 1878, and the Transvaal on 2 September 1878, and marched from Pretoria to join the column under General Sir H. Rowlands, V.C., K.C.B., taking part in he operations against the Sekukuni. He entered Zululand on 11 January 1879, and joined Lord Chelmsford’s Column, retiring to Rorke’s Drift on 23 January 1879 after the disaster at Isandlahwana. He was subsequently present at the actions at Kambula Hill and Ulundi, 4 July 1879, before proceeding to the Intombi and was one of the party to capture the chief of that district. He returned to the U.K. on 8 December 1879.

Embarking for India on 29 December 1881, Still served as a First Class Sergeant Instructor on the Bombay Unattached List, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1888. He was discharged at Gosport, Hampshire, on 31 December 1891. Subsequently appointed a Yeoman of the King’s Bodyguard, it was in this capacity that he received both the 1902 and 1911 Coronation Medals. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal without annuity per Army Order 132 of 1919, and died at Hounslow, Middlesex, on 6 June 1923.

Still was in fact in the 1st Squadron, I.M.I. from 2.9.1878 and is mentioned by Newnham Davis in his book on p. 93.

Yes indeed, good spot.

"I mounted all my Bashi-Bazouks again the day before I arrived at Standerton, for I was a little afraid that Colonel Russell, who had been sent out from England to command the mounted men in the Transvaal, and who had brought a cavalry sergeant-major with him, might think my methods irregular"

Splendid picture of an I.M.I. on page 43. Frustrating though that he ends his narrative when he does.

(The Transvaal under the Queen is one of my favourite book covers )

Kate,
Yes, it's a curious narrative. It doesn't quite end where the reader thinks because it doesn't run chronologically but dots about in the IMI's South African experiences. But that's another thread1