Award of the Central Africa Medal was approved by Queen Victoria in Army Order No.

It was issued in silver to combatants, while native porters and authorised servants received the medal in bronze.

The obverse depicts the left facing effigy of Queen Victoria wearing a diadem with a veil behind.

This covered ten small Central African campaigns between 1891 and 1895, eight in the vicinity of Lake Nyassa in what is now Malawi, and two in the Unyoro and Mruli districts in Uganda.

[3] The medal and clasp were awarded for a number of small expeditions between 1894 and 1898 near Lake Nyassa, and one in 1897 against Chief Mpezeni in present-day Zambia.