Natal Native Rebellion Medal

Natal Native Rebellion Medal
Awarded by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India
Country	United Kingdom Colony of Natal
Type	Military campaign medal
Eligibility	Military and police forces
Awarded for	Campaign service
Campaign(s)	Bambatha Rebellion, 1906
Clasps	1906
Statistics
Established	1907
First awarded	1907
Total awarded	9,622
Order of wear
Next (higher)	Tibet Medal
Next (lower)	India General Service Medal (1909)
Ribbon bar

The Natal Native Rebellion Medal was a British campaign medal. It was authorised in 1907 for service in Natal during a Zulu revolt against British rule and taxation in 1906. The 1906 Clasp to the medal was awarded to those who had served for more than fifty days.

In the years following the Second Boer War, British employers in Natal found it difficult to recruit sufficient Zulu farm workers because of increased competition from the gold mines on the Witwatersrand. To coerce more Zulu men to enter the labour market, the Natal Colonial government introduced a £1 head tax, in addition to the existing hut tax. The revolt, led by Chief Bambatha kaMancinza, leader of the amaZondi clan of the Zulu people who lived in the Mpanza Valley, a district near Greytown, was sparked in February 1906, when two British tax collectors were killed near Richmond.

Martial law was declared and Bambatha embarked on a series of guerrilla attacks, using the Nkandla forest as a base. The revolt continued until colonial troops managed to surround the rebels at Mome Gorge. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Zulus were killed during the revolt, some of whom died fighting on the side of the Natal government. More than 7,000 were imprisoned, and 4,000 flogged. King Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, who gave tacit support to Bambatha, was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for treason.

The Natal Native Rebellion Medal and the 1906 Clasp to the medal were authorised by King Edward VII on 9 May 1907, as a campaign medal for service during the Bambatha Rebellion in Natal in 1906.

To qualify for the medal, a soldier or policeman had to have served in the field for at least twenty days between 11 February 1906 and 3 August 1906. Those who had served for fifty days or longer, which most recipients did, qualified for the award of the 1906 Clasp to the medal.

Altogether 9,622 medals were awarded. Most of the recipients were members of the Natal colonial military and police forces, while 546 medals were awarded to volunteers from the Transvaal Colony and 70 medals to troops from the Cape of Good Hope.

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