Edward VII Coronation Medal : Lance Corporal E A Starkey, 3rd Battalion, Victorian Colonial Forces

Edward VII Coronation Medal. Unnamed as issued.

Awarded to Private Arthur Eli Starkey, who was born in Ballarat on 30 March 1880 to John and Sarah Starkey. He served in the 3rd Battalion Victorian Rifles before volunteering to serve in South Africa upon the outbreak of war in 1899. He departed with the 1st Victorian Infantry Company on 28 October 1899. Arriving in South Africa in November the unit was quickly converted to a mounted rifles squadron, joining the Victorian Mounted Rifles to become the 1st Victorian Mounted Rifles. On 12 February a Boer Commando commanded by Koos de la Rey attacked the British and Australian forces in the area of Rensburg. The Victorians were able to cover the retreat of forty Wiltshire Regiment men from Pink Hill, before themselves withdrawing after the death of their commanding officer Major George Eddy. Six Australians died during the engagement on Pink Hill. It was reported that Starkey saved a wounded Wiltshire man under heavy fire, for this he would be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Starkey continued to serve with the 1st Victorian Mounted Rifles until the unit returned to Australia in December 1900. In April 1902 he was chosen to represent the state of Victoria as part of the Australian contingent to the Coronation of Edward VII. While there he was presented with the Distinguished Conduct Medal by the Prince of Wales. In May 1903 Starkey joined the Victorian Police, serving with them until the 1940s and reaching the rank of Senior Constable. He married Ruby Francesque Mabel Reid in 1905 and had four children. Starkey died on 22 September 1953.