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Auction: 11007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 55

The Rare E.VII.R. Edward Medal for Industry to Foreman F. Smith, for Attempting to Rescue a Man Who Had Been Rendered Unconscious From the Effects of Gas Whilst Sinking a Well at East Markham in Nottinghamshire Edward Medal (Industry), E.VII.R., Second Class (Frank Smith), bronze, sometime lightly gilded, otherwise good very fine and rare, in fitted case of issue Estimate £ 1,400-1,800 E.M. Second Class London Gazette 14.2.1911 Frank Smith (listed jointly with John Wapplington) ´On the 30th September, 1910, John Wapplington and another labourer, named Albert Templeman, were engaged in sinking a well at East Markham, Nottinghamshire, and had fired a shot in order to blast the rock at the bottom. After an interval, during which they tested the air with a lighted lamp and found no gas, Templeman went down the well and struck the rock with a crowbar. Immediately afterwards he cried out that he was feeling dizzy, and asked Wapplington to lower a ladder and rope. He did not wait to fasten a rope around himself, but tried to mount the ladder, and fell back when he was half way up. Wapplington, calling for help, went down to Templeman´s assistance; but found that he could not lift him, and came up in a dazed condition. After a rest of a quarter of an hour, he bravely made another attempt; but called out that he could not attach the rope to Templeman, as he was overcome by the gas. He managed, however, to reach the top before becoming unconscious. Frank Smith, foreman, then came to the spot with other men, and, fastening the rope round his body, went down the well, and succeeded in getting the rope round Templeman, by which means he was hauled up. Smith reached the surface in a state of collapse, though he soon recovered. Templeman was found to be dead.´ Mr. Frank Smith, E.M., was awarded the Edward Medal whilst employed as a Foreman labourer with the Lincoln Water Works at the construction of a well at Cowlishaw´s Farm, East Markham, Nottinghamshire, 30th September 1910, and was presented with his medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 23rd February 1911. Only 2 silver and 5 bronze E.VII.R. Edward Medals were awarded. Provenance: Tamplin Collection, 2003.

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