Royal Humane Society, large bronze medal (successful) (H. K. Balstona [sic] vit. ob. Serv. D.D. Soc. Reg. Hvm. 16 July 1865) fitted with a ring suspension, minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine £140-£180

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2010.

R.H.S. Case no. 17,540: ‘Awarded for a successful rescue at Llandudno on 16 July 1865.’

Henry Kenneth Balston resided at 24 York Street, Manchester. He rescued William Thomas of Bath Road, Manchester at Llandudno, 16 July 1865:

‘Two gentlemen were bathing a few days ago in Llandudno bay, near Little Ormeshead, when suddenly one of them found himself being carried away by the tide. He raised an alarm, and a number of persons soon flocked to the shore, and several unsuccessful attempts were made to reach the drowning man. At length Mr. Balston, a Manchester merchant, dashed into the waves with a cord round his body, the other end being held on shore. At length he reached the exhausted bather, but found that the man who had charge of the cord had let the shore end go, and no help therefore was to be looked for from that quarter. Mr. Balston, holding the bather by one arm, struck out boldly for the shore, but had not made much progress when his charge clutched him with the grip of a drowning man, and both went down. Mr. Balston got free with some difficulty, and both rose to the surface, but his subsequent efforts to serve the unfortunate man were attended with similar results - the grip on the one side, and the struggle to get released on the other. At length the shore was reached, but Mr. Balston was in such a condition from exhaustion that for a few minutes it appeared as if life were extinct. He was, however, restored to consciousness, and, with the man whose life he had so gallantly saved, conveyed to a hotel, where they gradually recovered from the effects of the terrible struggle in which they had been engaged.’ (Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 6 August 1865 refers)

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