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J Dembitzer 1897

Updated: Dec 13, 2019


Please note : I am still investigating this token...

J Dembitzer - These tokens are said to be from Port Nolloth ....

Port Nolloth is a town and small domestic seaport in he Namaqualand region on the northwestern coast of South Africa, 144 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Springbok. It is the seat of the Richtersveld Local Municipality.

The port was previously a transshipment point for copper from the Okiep mines, and diamonds from the Namaqua coast.

The bay upon which the port sits was known by the indigenous Namaqua people as Aukwatowa ("Where the water took away the old man"). Its location was marked by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias on his epic voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. It was the last landfall he sighted before a wild storm blew his ship off course and out to sea for 13 days

Looking at the time frame here and after some brief investigation I believe that Mr J Dembitzer actually served in the Okiep Siege of 1902 ...

The QSA to J Dembitzer of the O'okiep Volunteers with his Cape Copper Co medal. ( Mr Henk Loots) (1)

Dembitzer J Private QSA (0) (Pte. O'Okiep Vols.), Cape Copper Company Medal for the Defence of O'okiep, bronze issue (J. Dembitzer). O'Okiep Volunteers

DembitzerJ Source: QSA and KSA medal rolls O'Okiep Volunteers

Dembitzer J Attached To Namaqualand Town Guard QSA and KSA medal rolls O'Okiep Volunteers

Okiep’s saw action on 4 April 1902 during the Anglo-Boer war when some 700 officers and men of the 3rd Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment, 5th Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Namaqualand Border Scouts, the Town Guard and the Cape Garrison Artillery, withstood a 30-day siege by Jan Smuts’ forces.

On 4 May 1902, a relief column arrived from Port Nolloth and ended the siege. This was one of the last military actions by Boer forces, as the war ended in May of the same year. A point of interest is that the British had expected a protracted siege, and in preparation thereof had issued a number of siege notes. This being a form of government guaranteed credit note to keep the economy in a besieged town going until relief arrived.

 

Sources:

(1)

 

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