Rare plague medal earned by Shropshire soldier to go under the hammer

The medal was presented to former labourer, Private Richard Corfield, for the relief work he carried out during the bubonic plague epidemic which broke out in Hong Kong in May 1894.

Private Corfield was 26 and serving with the 1st Battalion of the Shropshire Light Infantry in Hong Kong at the time of the epidemic.

He was one of hundreds of Midlands soldiers who went to the aid of stricken residents.

Around 3,500 people are estimated to have died as a result of the epidemic.

According to the Shropshire Regimental Museum in Shrewsbury: “When the plague broke out, volunteers were called for to work on plague relief.

“Approximately 600 men of 1 KSLI served at various times.

"The work was unpleasant in the extreme, searching narrow backstreets and overcrowded houses for plague victims, tending the sick in makeshift hospitals and disinfecting the houses and streets with chloride of lime and whitewash.

“That is why Shrewsbury-born Private Corfield and his colleagues became known as ‘The Whitewash Brigade’.”

The soldiers lived in quarantine in separate tented camps and were given extra rum rations to help them cope with the gruelling work.

Fortunately Private Corfield survived and was eventually discharged from the army in 1907, when he was 39.

Now, more than 100 years later his 1894 Hong Kong Plague medal is coming up for sale.

It is expected to fetch between £700 and £900 at Spink in London on Tuesday.

Marcus Budgen, a medals specialist at Spink, said the item is an undoubted rarity.

He said: “Only about 800 plague medals were issued for 1894,with approximately 500 being issued to the Shropshire Light Infantry, so Private Corfield’s medal is a rarity without any doubt.”

The Shropshire Regimental Museum owns 30 of the 1894 Hong Kong Plague medals.

Whether the Shrewsbury Castle based museum will submit its own bid to buy Private Corfield’s medal has not yet been revealed.