Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 9024 - The Property of a Gentleman Orders, Decorations and Campaign Medals
Lot: 759

Tayleur Fund for the Succour of Shipwrecked Strangers Medal, silver, reverse engraved ´To James Beer H.M.S. Ajax. For Distinguished Gallantry in Saving of Life at Kingstown 9th. Feby. 1861. The Rt. Honble. Lord Talbot de Malahide, Chairman.´, good very fine, scarce Estimate £ 300-350 On 21 January 1854 the emigrant ship John Tayleur foundered off Lambay Island, Ireland. A fund was started for the relief of the survivors, with the surplus used for the award of life-saving medals in the future. Medals from the fund were first awarded in 1861 to men of H.M.S. Ajax and others for their gallantry in the attempted rescue of men from the brig Neptune and brigantine Industry which were wrecked against Kingstown pier in a storm. Such was the fury of the storm that 17 ships were lost in the vicinity. The Medals were awarded by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at a ceremony conducted on the deck of H.M.S. Ajax, on the 30th May 1861. Gold Medals were given to Lieutenant Dyer, R.N., and Mr. John Walsh, the Lloyd´´s Agent, who had distinguished himself at both the loss of the John Tayleur and the Ajax, and Silver Medals were given to twenty-two members of Ajax´´s crew, including James Beer. The Tayleur Fund Medal was awarded on a further fifteen occasions, all in silver, bringing the total numbers issued to 2 gold and 37 silver over the period 1861-75. The Fund was transferred to the RNLI in 1913, and no further medals were awarded. Provenance: Glendining, December 1972.

Sold for
£400