The East and West Africa Medal was a campaign medal

Campaign medal

A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of the military who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater...

 approved for issue to officers and men of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 armed forces in East

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

 and West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

. The obverse held a left-facing portrait of Queen Victoria with the inscription "VICTORIA REGINA". The reverse held and image of British soldiers fighting Africans, an image also used on the reverses of the Ashantee Medal

Ashantee Medal

The Ashantee Medal is a British campaign medal instituted on the 1st June 1874 for award to British, Colonial and allied native forces deployed against the army of the Ashanti King Koffee Kalkalli, during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War.-Description:...

 and the Central Africa Medal.North East Medals entry on Ashantee Medal The medal was issued in silver to officers and men of the British forces and in bronze to native porters. There are 21 clasps for this medal and an alternative design for those who served on the Mwele campaign. This alternative design was simply the additional imprinting of "MWELE" next to the claw of the medal.

Clasps

• 1887-8

13 November 1887 - 2 January 1888

• Witu 1890

17 - 27 October 1890

• 1891-2

29 December 1891 - 2 February 1892

• 1892

8 March - 25 May 1892

• Witu August 1893

7 - 13 August 1893

• Liwondi 1893

February - March 1893

• Juba River 1893

23 - 25 August 1893

• Lake Nyassa 1893

November 1893

• 1893-94

16 November 1893 - 11 March 1894

• Gambia 1894

23 February - 13 March 1894

• Benin River 1894

August - September 1894

• Brass River 1895

17 - 26 February 1895

• 1896-98

27 November 1896 - 27 June 1898

• Niger 1897

6 January - 26 February 1897

• Benin 1897

6 February - 7 August

• Dawkita 1897

28 March 1897

• 1897-98

September 1897 - August 1898

• 1898

1898

• Sierra Leone 1898-99

18 February 1898 - 9 March 1899

• 1899

February - May 1899

• 1900

4 January - 8 May 1900