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Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 451

'As only a limited number of the medals have been made for those actually present at the Siege, it is hoped they will be an interesting souvenir for them to pass down to their descendants.'

Arthur Brent, present at the Defence of Legations, on the purpose of his Medals.

A rare and interesting Peking Siege Medal to Mr. W. R. Brazier, Chinese Customs, present at the legendary Defence of Legations

Peking Siege Commemoration Medal 1900, bronze, 57mm, impressed on the edge 'Wm. Russell Brazier', edge bruising and lightly polished, good fine

The Peking Siege Commemoration Medal was struck privately by Mr. Arthur Brent, an employee of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank and awarded only to those actually present at the Defence of Legations. His related letter of September 1903 states:

'These Bronze Medals have been struck as a memento of the above Siege, an almost unique episode in the history of the World, when a handful of "foreigners" of all nationalities, assisted by some native Christians whom they were protecting, successfully defended those Legations that were not destroyed from 20th June to 14th August, 1900, against hordes of Chinese soldiers and Boxers, although by telegrams dispatched for native purposes to the outside world, the defenders were all at one time said to have been massacred, ghastly details being given.

One side of the medal is represented by the burning of the Chien Men with the quaint International gun "Betsy", the only piece of artillery, if it could be so called, that the foreigners had, with the dates of the Siege. On the reverse, Europe, America and Japan are shown trampling on the Imperial Chinese Dragon, with a suitable inscription.

The writer and his wife and his eldest son served in the British Legation during the Siege, and the idea occured to him, if he could get sufficient subscribers, to have these medals struck from designs made by some of the besieged, their original intention having been abandoned owing to those interested being dispersed to all parts of the world. As only a limited number of the medals have been made for those actually present at the Siege, it is hoped they will be an interesting souvenir for them to pass down to their descendants.'

William Russell Brazier appears to be the younger brother of James Russell Brazier, a scion of a family who long-served the Chinese Imperial Customs. A photograph from the Sir Robert Hart Collection, in the archive of Queen's University, Belfast (MS 15.6.6.005), shows the damage to the barricade erected outside their family home in Peking.

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Sold for
£700