Tribute Medals: Borough of Barnsley

On eBay a Borough of Barnsley Tribute medal has been sold for £545. This medal is in Hibbard but when he published 1982 only one example was known to a "L-Cpl H Pearson".

The medal sold, the second example known, is to "Pte W Crossland".

The inscription does not identify the unit of the recipient. Hibbard states that  "L-Cpl H Pearson" served in the volunteer company, Yorks & Lancs Regiment. As Hibbard details Pearson's WW1 service in the Army Service Corps one may assume that the tribute medal named to him comes with Pearson's campaign medals.

"L-Cpl H Pearson" was Harry Pearson, 2 volunteer battalion York & Lancaster Rgt. His service number for South Africa was 7047. Pearson was born in Barnsley.

Following this line the medal just sold is to Willie Crossland also of the 2 volunteer battalion York & Lancaster Rgt. His service number for South Africa was 7026. Crossland was born near  Barnsley.

The inscription reads:

 'PRESENTED BY THE MAYOR & CORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH OF BARNSLEY TO PTE W CROSSLAND FOR SERVICES RENDERED DURING THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA AUG 22 1902'

A search of British Newspapers Archive has failed to turn up a newspaper report on the award. It is unknown if all the recipients were from the 2nd volunteer battalion Yorks & Lancaster Rgt or inhabitants of Barnsley.

To estimate the number of this Barnsley Tribute medals I used FindmyPast.  I searched for all men born in Barnsley, Regiment = "York and Lanc*", Service Number = 70*, Year = 1900; there are 23 hits. This is inexact as Willie Crossland is indexed by FmP for "Huddersfield", yet his papers show he was born in Gilroyd Dodson [?], Barnsley.