Officer of the Order of the British Empire (military): Major Alfred Henry Du Frayer, South African Special Service Company

Accession Number OL00429.003
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Award
Physical description Sterling silver
Maker Garrard & Co Ltd
Unknown
Place made United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London
Date made 1919
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Source credit to This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.
Description

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (military) with pre-1936 ribbon. Unnamed as issued. Impressed reverse with London hallmarks for the year 1919.

History / Summary

Awarded to Alfred Henry Du Frayer. Du Frayer was born in Victoria on 20 September 1871. He was educated in Melbourne at Brighton Grammar School from 1884 to 1889. He worked on his uncle's property in Queensland, and then at Narrandera in New South Wales before enlisting in the 1st New South Wales Mounted Rifles for service in the Boer War.

In South Africa he saw action at Poplar Grove, Dreifontein, Karee Siding, Vet River, Zand River, Pretoria and Diamond Hill. He was awarded the Queen's Scarf (OL00429.001) for bravery for his actions at Karee Siding on 11 April 1900.

Five months later, Du Frayer was invalided to Australia after suffering from enteric fever and pneumonia. He arrived in Sydney on 17 September 1900, and was discharged from service three days later. He later re-joined the NSW Military Forces and was commissioned a second lieutenant.

From 1902, having noticed the serious depletion in cattle numbers while he was in South Africa, Du Frayer organised and accompanied a number of shipments of well-bred Australian cattle to South Africa. He subsequently married and settled there. Du Frayer enlisted with the South African Special Service Company during the First World War, serving as a major in south-west and east Africa. As a result of his service he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire early in 1919. Du Frayer later moved to Tanganyika (now Tanzania), where he died in 1940. He was buried with military honours at Old Shinyanga in the Lake Province.