THE CLUB GOLD MEDAL 1870 HONOUR BADGE OF
CHRIS MOORE EXPLORES THE EVOLUTION OF ROYAL LIVERPOOL’S MEDALS AND CREST
WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR – AREN’T WE? – with our Club badge in its traditional form used on our flag, Elizabethan dish prizes, letterheads and ties; and also in its simplified, less ornate form seen on clothing and various promotional material. Give or take debate from time to time about whether golf balls are part of the design, both versions are registered trademarks giving the Club control of its name, the badge and how and where they can be used. But what many may not appreciate is
the astonishing variation in the design of the Club crest or badge in the early years.
“The gold medal for the Spring Competition had been much prolonged”
32 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2013
Join me on a short excursion through the record books and display cabinets to savour the rich heritage this represents. We should start with the Club Gold
Medal – a large handsome ‘breast pin’ on display in the Inner Hall. Reflecting the period of the late 1860s and setting a pattern for those which followed in the 1870s, the medal was designed to be worn. It is surmounted by a dark blue silk ribbon under a gold clasp. But what of the medal itself? Early records show that the Council authorized the purchase of a gold medal in December 1869 to be first played for at the Spring Meeting on 13 May 1870. A small committee was formed under the Captain, J Muir Dowie, to make the purchase to be paid for by subscription from the growing band of members. This obviously proved
THE ADAMSON GOLD MEDAL 1870
tricky because, by March 1870, it was still not to hand; consequently Club records state: “Mr Dun in conjunction with the officers of the Club was instructed to get designs for a Club Crest and to have the same properly engraved.” Perhaps we can detect a hint of impatience here. A further complication occurred at a meeting on 18 March 1870 when the Council agreed by a majority of 5 to change the name from ‘Liverpool Golf Club’ to ‘West Lancashire and Cheshire Golf Club’! At the same meeting, bizarrely, the Rules of the Club confirming the previous name were approved. No doubt there was some disarray as, with the Club’s name still being debated and the competition just weeks away, the Captain urged greater endeavour by stating that, “The gold medal for the Spring Competition had been much prolonged.” On 2 April 1870, after representations
and another vote, the name of the Club reverted to the Liverpool Golf Club. On 28 April, Mr David Hutton attended a meeting to explain his designs, best described as a coat of arms which was adopted “with slight alteration” - this principally being to replace the arms of Liverpool with what we see now on the medal. It is indeed a handsome gold piece measuring about 4” across. Its form is
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