Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Frederick William Wareham, 18th. March 1888) lacking integral bronze riband buckle, edge nicks, good very fine £100-£140

R.H.S. Case no. 23,903.
‘The bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society has been awarded to Frederick William Wareham of Bournemouth, who on Sunday, the 18th March, without stopping to undress, and not withstanding the weather was bitterly cold, plunged into the sea and succeeded in saving the life of a gentleman who had fallen off the landing stage into the water, and was in imminent danger of being drowned. A subscription is being arranged to present Wareham with a gold watch and chain in further recognition of his heroic conduct.’ (The Christchurch Times, 28 April 1888 refers).

Frederick William Wareham was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, in 1864. A butcher by profession, he was awarded the R.H.S. Medal for jumping off the pier at Bournemouth and rescuing a gentleman named ‘Thatcher’ - a holidaymaker to the town - from drowning (The Western Daily Press, refers). His award was publicly presented by the Chairman of the Commissioners, whilst a gold watch was offered by Captain Haggard.

Sold with copied newspaper cutting extracts regarding both the award of the Royal Humane Society, and the recipient’s later misadventures, culminating in his suicide in 1906.