A rare Defence of Legations group awarded to Able Seaman Arthur Peel, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, formerly valet to Mr. T.B. Clarke-Thornhill, Secretary at the British Legation in Pekin

CHINA 1900, 1 clasp, Defence of Legations (A. Peel); BRITISH WAR MEDAL (A.A. 2204 A. Peel, A.B., R.N.V.R.); MEDAL FOR THE DEFENCE OF LEGATIONS, bronze, 57mm, by J. Tayler Foot, named on the edge in impressed capitals (A. Peel), together with contemporary dress miniatures of the first two, both sets mounted for wearing, and silver discharge badge 1914-18, numbered on the reverse (R.N. 16389), all contained in an old fitted case by A.H. Baldwin & Sons, nearly extremely fine and very rare

An interesting anecdote relating to the bronze medal by J. Tayler Foot is recorded in 'The Siege of the Peking Legations' by Rev. Roland Allen M.A., Smith, Elder & Co., London 1901, pp 263-4: 'Encouraged by this good news (of impending relief) and full of high hopes, the general committee posted a notice at the Bell Tower offering a prize for designs for a Peking siege medal to be struck as a memorial of this strange experience. There were some three or four designs, one representing the burning of the Chien Men, one a Marine posted at a barricade, one three figures of Europe, America and Japan standing hand in hand on the head of a dragon, one a dragon breathing fire upon the Bell Tower, with the legend 'Ex ore Draconis liberati sumus,' and one or two others which I have forgotten. The motto which took the popular fancy was 'Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,' but that really was a most unwarranted prophecy,' Arthur Peel was present throughout the siege of the British Legations in his capacity as personal valet to Mr. T.B. Clarke-Thornhill, Secretary in the Diplomatic Service and a noted numismatist whose collection of more than 17,000 coins was bequeathed to the British Museum.