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Auction: 13002 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 355

Volunteer Officer's Decoration, V.R., Colonial 'V.R.I.' type, silver (Hallmarks for Birmingham 1896) and silver-gilt, reverse engraved in running script 'Major Walter Saise E.I. Ry: Vol: Rifles.', with integral top riband bar, nearly extremely fine, with the recipient's Science and Art Department National Prize in Science Medal, silver, young head profile of Queen Victoria by William Wyon on obverse, edge impressed in serif capitals 'Walter Saise. Organic Chemistry. 1869.', this extremely fine, in embossed leather fitted box of issue (2)

Major Walter Saise, V.D. (1854-1937), known as 'The Father of Indian Coal Mining', was born in Bristol and educated at the Bristol Trade School and at the Royal School of Mines, London. In 1876 he was appointed assistant manager of the East Indian Railway Collieries at Giridih, Bihar, and was promoted to Superintendent in 1882, a position he held for the next 23 years. During his tenure he was responsible for raising the output to more than 650,000 tons per annum. Loved by his workforce, he worked tirelessly to improve their working conditions, organised trips for them to Calcutta, imported rice from Burma in times of famine, and stamped out plague by a campaign against rats. In 1909 he visited Afghanistan for a year as consulting mining engineer and geologist to the Amir Habibullah, before retiring back to England, where he was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn, stood for Parliament, and served as the first chairman of the Insurance Committee for National Health Insurance. During his career he published several papers, his masterpiece being 'The Igneous Rocks of the Giridih Coal Field.'

The Science and Art Department National Prize Medals were awarded in gold, silver, and bronze following public examinations in eight main groups of subjects, and were intended to encourage and stimulate talent at local schools throughout Britain, especially amongst the lower and middle classes.

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Sold for
£550