The Ashanti Star

       The Ashanti Star was instituted 1896 and awarded to the members of the punitive expedition against the Ashanti King Prempeh. This expedition came about due to the Ashanti failure to honour conditions of the 1874 peace treaty, in particular the payment to the Crown of 50,000 ounces of gold. (see Ashantee Medal 1873)  The expedition included composite units composed of small detachments of men from a number of British regiments, although since the stars were issued unnamed it is not possible to identify these regimentally scarce medals, unless as part of a named group.


     Description;  A bronze interpenetrant four pointed star and saltire cross, 38mm wide, with suspension by a loop and ring. Obverse: a central medallion with a circlet inscribed "Ashanti 1896" and at the centre an imperial crown. Reverse; within a circular central recess the inscription "From the Queen", the rest of the reverse surface is plain.
     Naming; issued unnamed, but the Colonel of the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment had his unit's stars engraved at his own expense.

 

Ribbon
31mm wide, yellow with two black stripes.

Also see  Medals of the Regiments for qualification by regiment.