Life Saving Awards from the Collection of John Wilson

Windsor and Eton Humane Society, bronze, obverse: laurel wreath, centre impressed ‘No. XIII’, reverse: within wreath of laurel and oak leaves, engraved ‘For Saving Three Lives in the Thames’, 38mm, clip and ring for suspension and small blue riband, good very fine and patinated, very rare £150-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Life Saving Awards from the Collection of John Wilson.

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Collection

Ex Preston-Morley Buckinghamshire Collection, D.N.W. 28 March 2002; D.N.W. 18 September 1998 and Stansfield Collection.

The death by drowning in 1834 of Jack Hall, who had been for nearly 50 years a fisherman and servant of Eton College, led to the formation of the Eton & Windsor Humane Society. The Society prevented many accidents in the summertime by stationing watermen in dangerous spots to warn those unacquainted with the river’s characteristics; in the winter, when the river was frozen, men with suitable drag ropes and other grappling devices were similarly deployed.