Auction Catalogue

30 September 2021

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

British Tokens, Tickets and Passes, Wiltshire Coins and Paranumismatica

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Lot

№ 598

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30 September 2021

Hammer Price:
£360

Magistrates Medal of Admission to the Courts, a copper award by Younge & Deakin, legend in open wreath, rev. closed wreath, named (The Revd. W.R. Hay), 44mm, 43.59g (D & W 89/325). Stamped (SWIFT?) on reverse, some minor marks and surface deposit, otherwise very fine, rare £300-£400

William Robert Hay (1761-1839), the well-known token collector and one of the issuers of the 1796 Buxton halfpenny, was one of the magistrates present at the Peterloo Massacre on 16 August 1819. A mass rally took place at St Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand parliamentary reform. After the meeting began the magistrates issued arrest warrants for the orator Henry Hunt and three others; the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry attempted to reach the platform to arrest Hunt but became caught in the crowd and in their panic began to hack about them with their sabres. After Hunt had finally been apprehended the magistrates then ordered the 15th Hussars to disperse the crowd and a cavalry charge ensued. In all 18 people were killed and several hundred injured