Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Folkestone Hythe and Sandgate Medal, silver, the reverse inscribed ‘To Robert Freeman, 11th November 1891. “He bravely did his duty”’, fitted with split ring and silver bar suspension, edge nicks, very fine and scarce £300-£400

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, July 2001.

In a violent gale which swept the coasts of Kent and Sussex on 11 November 1891, the French schooner, Eider, was driven against the seawall at Seabrook, near Hythe and the iron sailing ship, Benvenue, en-route from London to Sydney, ran aground off Sandgate. Coastguardmen from Hythe were able to rescue four from the Eider as she began to break up. A valiant attempt to reach the Benvenue, by the Sandgate lifeboat, the Meyer de Rothschild, was unsuccessful, the lifeboat being overturned in the surf and one man killed. Attempts to reach the wreck by rocket apparatus were similarly unsuccessful. The Dover lifeboat was with difficulty launched and headed for the scene but in the meantime a scratch crew of coastguardmen and fishermen from Folkestone and the surrounding area was gathered together and were able to launch a lifeboat. In heavy seas and with great difficulty the wreck was reached and the rescue was accomplished. The lifeboat returned to Folkestone to be greeted by a large crowd.

For his part in the rescue operations, Lawrence Hennessey, Boatman of the Hythe Coastguard Station, was awarded the Albert Medal in Bronze.

Sir Edward Watkin, a director of the South Eastern Railway, made monetary awards to the rescuers and decided that a medal should also be awarded. His wife undertook the design of the medal, the dies of which were prepared by Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854 - 1934), the renowned sculptor of ‘Eros’ in Piccadilly Circus. The medals were manufactured by Heming & Co, London. The medals were presented on 1 January 1892 by the Mayor, Mr S. Penfold, who opened his speech with the words, ‘The very pleasing duty now devolves upon me of distributing the medals which have been so kindly given by Sir Edward Watkin, to those brave men who, on 11th November, gallantly went out in the lifeboat, at different periods of the day, for the purpose of rescuing men in danger of their lives.’

Sold with a large quantity of copy research. See also The Folkestone, Hythe and Sandgate Medal by George Callaghan & John Wilson, L.S.A.R.S. Journal 46, p.3-17.