These are made of lead. They are from the time of the Boer War. This war was fought in South Africa over 100 years ago. Many soldiers from Dumfries and Galloway went away to fight in it.

• Toy soldiers representing Dr Leander Starr Jameson and the South African Mounted Infantry
• 1903
• Wigtownshire
• Born in Stranraer in 1853, he led the 'Jameson Raid', a military blunder that led to the Boer War of 1899-1902.

These toy soldiers are part of a set showing the South African Mounted Infantry. Britain's Ltd made them in 1903.

The officer with the pistol is Leander Starr Jameson who was born in Stranraer in 1853. After training as a doctor he went to Africa. He worked closely with Cecil Rhodes and became the first administrator of Mashonaland - later Rhodesia.

In 1895 he led the infamous 'Jameson Raid' into the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. This was an illegal, armed raid designed to support an uprising for control of the Johannesburg gold mines. It was a military failure and one of the main causes behind the Boer War.

Jameson is now regarded as an example of Victorian imperialism at its worst, but at the time he was a popular hero. He is the only non-Royal to have been commemorated by the Britain's Ltd toy company.

In the collection of Stranraer Museum.