The Ashanti Star

• Time Period: Pre-WW1
• Year of Institution: 1896
  
• Country: Great Britain

The Ashanti Star was a British medal awarded to members of the expedition against the Ashanti King Prempeh, in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War that lasted from December 1895 to February 1896. The medal was established in 1896.

The forces who qualified for the medal included the second Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment and a composite battalion consisting of between 16 and 26 men from each of the three regiments of Foot Guards and from eight infantry regiments. About half the troops deployed were locally recruited Hausa forces. Three Nursing Sisters were also present and received the medal.

The Ashanti Medal Design

The design of the Ashanti medal is attributed to Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter (whose husband, Prince Henry of Battenberg, died of malaria during the campaign).

The medal measures 38mm wide, it’s suspended by a loop and ring, and is a bronze four pointed star superimposed on a saltire cross.

The obverse shows a central medallion with a circlet inscribed “Ashanti 1896”, surrounding an imperial crown. The reverse displays within a circular central recess the inscription “From the Queen”, the rest of the reverse surface is plain.

The ribbon measures 31 millimeters (1.2 in) wide, yellow with two black stripes. The medal was awarded unnamed, except to members of the West Yorkshire Regiment, whose colonel had the medals engraved at his own expense.