S.S. Maine American Ladies’ Hospital Ship Fund Commemorative Medallion 1899, 44mm, silver, unnamed, edge bruising, very fine and somewhat scarcer in silver £100-£140

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Boer War Medals to Medical Services, the Church and the Press.

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The Maine was originally the Atlantic Transport Line steamer Swansea, renamed in 1899 and lent to the British Government as a hospital ship for use in the Boer War and later off China during the Boxer Rebellion. Fitted out as a hospital ship in London by Messrs. Fletcher & Son and Fearnall Ltd., the costs were met by the American Ladies Hospital Ship Fund, under the Chairmanship of Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of the future Prime Minister, who struck the above medallion to help with their fundraising.