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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 718

The Most Interesting South African Pair to Captain A.H. Neumann, South African Light Horse, Late Native Contingent, Famous African Explorer and Big Game Hunter, Author of Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa, and Fondly Known as ´Nyama Yango´ by Natives of the East Africa Highlands South Africa 1877-79, one clasp, 1878 (Capt: A.H. Neumann, Native Contgt.), partially officially corrected; Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, three clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (Lieut: A.H. Neumann, S.A. Lt: Horse.), extremely fine, sold with a copy of the book Hunter Away - the Life and Times of Arthur Henry Neumann 1850-1907 (2) Estimate £ 1,400-1,800 Captain Arthur Charles Neumann, born Bedfordshire, 1850; became a coffee planter in Natal aged 18. He later tried cotton, tobacco growing and gold mining in the Transvaal with his brother Charles. Whilst operating a trading post in Swaziland, he became fluent in the local dialects and befriended the King of the Swazis, Ubandeni. He was able to put this friendship to good use with the outbreak of the hostilities with the Zulus, joining one of the Native Contingents as a Captain and an interpreter for Captain Macleod, the then Chief of Swaziland Police. It was feared at the time that the Swazis would join forces with the Zulus against the British, and one day whilst Macleod and Neumann were out riding together near the border they received news from a galloper informing them of the disaster at Isandhlwana. Given the precarious position that they were in with relation to the Swazis they were urged to keep the news from Neumann´s friend King Ubandeni. After consultation, however, Macleod considered it a better plan to break the news to the King himself, insisting that a British army would soon come to avenge the defeat. Upon delivering the news to the King, Macleod and Neumann were greeted with complete silence, as the two men would have realised at the time both their lives hung in the balance. Some hours later, native spies confirmed Macleod´s report and the King sent for him saying, ´Mafu, you speak the truth and if it takes the whole Zulu army to destroy one English camp, the English will win´. As a result of Macleod´s snap decision the Swazis fought with the British against the Zulus and later against the Basutos. In the latter conflict it was the Swazis under Macleod who surrounded Sekukuni and captured him. Neumann rejoined his brother in a farming venture in 1880 and for the next ten years travelled and hunted along the Limpopo River before being employed by the East African Company to map routes for projected railways. It was whilst in this employment that his camp was attacked in Masai country and he received a spear wound. For a brief period he was employed as a Magistrate, before going looking for adventure again - this time he travelled North to Mombasa to organise an elephant shooting expedition. In the three years that followed, he spent all his time wandering the unknown interior, amongst the Ndoroba savages by Mount Kenia and the Lorogi Mountains. Here, totally in his element, he learnt the local dialects, traded with the natives and continued to enhance his reputation as a hunter. During this period he mentions shooting a rhino with a horn measuring 40 inches and having killed 11 elephants. On the 1st of January 1896 his personal servant was carried off before his eyes by a crocodile and shortly afterwards he was himself badly injured by a cow elephant which gored him and knelt on him in the thick bush. He was saved from death only by the springy undergrowth and could not lie in any position except on his back for two months. He later sold all his his ivory, amongst which were tusks up to nine feet in length. Having made a fortune out of the latter, he then wrote his book Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa and was credited with the discovery of several new animal and insect species. He was revered and loved by the natives of the East African highlands, who knew him as ´Nyama Yango´, literally translated as ´My Meat´ - the name is said to have been given to him because once he had marked his target, he never missed. J.G. Millais, the famous hunter author, likened Neumann to Selous, Livingstone, Speke, Grant Thomson and Burton, as a man caring little for worldly applause, but bent upon gaining a knowledge of the unknown for benefit of those who came after him. He also stipulates that the achievement of a totally peaceful settlement of the highlands in later years was due entirely to Neumann´s way of life and influence on the natives. In November 1899 Neumann went to South Africa to take part in the Boer War and he assisted Colonel Bethune to raise the South African Light Horse. Here he served as a Lieutenant, alongside one W.L.S. Churchill, taking part in the Relief of Ladysmith and having a very narrow escape at Spion Kop where a bullet passed through his hat and hair. After the War Neumann returned to Mount Kenia country, but with the advent of the preservation of game, he saw that his days as an elephant hunter were at an end and he returned to England in October 1906. Upon arrival he suffered a severe attack of influenza, from which he never really recovered. Millais records his depression at this stage of his life and on the 29th of May 1907 Neumann used one of his own firearms to take his own life. In a bizarre twist it was said that upon the day of his death he appeared to his godchild, Noomi Jackson, at her Convent school in Belgium telling her that he was suffering terribly for transgressions whilst on earth and asked her to pray constantly for him. She recorded how he continued to appear to her every day until she left the school and returned to London. The facts of the visitations were put before the Society of Psychical Research and published in their Journal of May 1908. Published transcription of roll gives recipient´s details as ´Captain A.H. Newman Natal Native Contingent´, and as being entitled to a ´1879´ clasp, the medal however appears entirely as issued.

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£3,000