Frontier Light Horse

South Africa Medal (1877)
Obverse (left) and reverse (right) of the South Africa Medal (1877)
Awarded by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type	Campaign medal
Eligibility	British forces.
Awarded for	Campaign service.
Campaign(s)	Anglo-Zulu War 1877–1879
Description	Silver disk, 36mm diameter.
Clasps	1877 1877–78 1879 1877–8–9
Statistics
Established	August 1880
Ribbon bar of the award

The Frontier Light Horse, a mounted unit of 200 volunteers, was raised at King William's Town, Eastern Cape Colony in 1877 by Lieutenant Frederick Carrington or the then Captain Buller.

It is often referred to as the Cape Frontier Light Horse and served under Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Henry Burmester Pulleine, 1st Battalion.

The unit served in the 9th Frontier War under Major Redvers Buller. In July 1878 the unit of 276 officers and men marched from King William's Town to Pietermaritzburg and then to Sekhukhuneland for service there. They fought under Captain Robert Johnston Barton in Wood's Column during the Anglo-Zulu War. They acted as rearguard at Hlobane on 28 March 1879 where 20% of the 156 members were lost.

Captain Barton, the commanding officer was killed.

At the end of that year the unit was disbanded.

Two members of the Frontier Light Horse, Captain Cecil D'Arcy and Sergeant Edmund O'Toole were awarded the Victoria Cross for their acts of valour in endeavouring to save the lives of soldiers during the reconnaissance made before the Battle of Ulundi on 3 July 1879.

The name Frontier Light Horse was also applied to an Eastern Cape Province unit established in 1899 as the District Mounted Rifles. Designated Frontier Light Horse in 1900, it served in the Colonial Division during the Second Anglo-Boer War.