Ancient, British and World Coins, Medallions and Books

Kelsall & Kemp, Rochdale, and Lingholm House, Portinscale, silver Long Service badges by Spink (3), c. 1920, for 15 Years (2), both 38mm, and 5 Years, 25mm (Farthing –); together with a badge by Edwards & Bryning Ltd, Rochdale, enclosing a portrait photograph of George Kemp [4]. Very fine and better, extremely rare; the badges in original black cases of issue £100-150

Lingholm House, Portinscale, Cumbria, on the western shores of Derwentwater, was built in the 1870s by Alfred Waterhouse for Lt-Col G.F. Greenall, of the brewing family. In 1900 it was purchased by George Kemp, 1st Baron Rochdale (1866-1945), who enlarged the grounds. Kemp played first-class cricket for Lancashire between 1885 and 1892, then served as MP for Heywood, 1895-1900, and for Manchester North West, 1910-12. Kemp, who became chairman of Kelsall & Kemp, flannel manufacturers in Rochdale, also enjoyed a notable military career, commanding a yeomanry detachment in the Boer War, where he was mentioned in despatches, and he commanded battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli in 1915. It is understood that the long service badges were issued to both workers at the Rochdale factory and servants at Lingholm House as both classes of individual were deemed by George Kemp to work for him. The children’s author Beatrix Potter spent her summer holidays at Lingholm House between 1885 and 1907 and it was where she penned many of her best-known stories