Life Saving Awards 761
A George Price was advanced Captain in the 46th Regiment of Foot in March 1800. Royal Humane Society, large silver medal (Presented to Captn. Geo. Price for rescuing Mary Litchfield from a Watery
Grave on Good Friday 1808) held in a silver frame and previously enclosed within lunettes, good very fine £400-£500 762
Royal Humane Society, large bronze medal (successful) (H. K. Balstona [sic] vit. ob. Serv. D.D. Soc. Reg. Hvm. 16 July 1865) fitted with a ring suspension, minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine
£140-£180 Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2010. R.H.S. Case no. 17,540: ‘Awarded for a successful rescue at Llandudno on 16 July 1865.’
Henry Kenneth Balston resided at 24 York Street, Manchester. He rescued William Thomas of Bath Road, Manchester at Llandudno, 16 July 1865:
‘Two gentlemen were bathing a few days ago in Llandudno bay, near Little Ormeshead, when suddenly one of them found himself being carried away by the tide. He raised an alarm, and a number of persons soon flocked to the shore, and several unsuccessful attempts were made to reach the drowning man. At length Mr. Balston, a Manchester merchant, dashed into the waves with a cord round his body, the other end being held on shore. At length he reached the exhausted bather, but found that the man who had charge of the cord had let the shore end go, and no help therefore was to be looked for from that quarter. Mr. Balston, holding the bather by one arm, struck out boldly for the shore, but had not made much progress when his charge clutched him with the grip of a drowning man, and both went down. Mr. Balston got free with some difficulty, and both rose to the surface, but his subsequent efforts to serve the unfortunate man were attended with similar results - the grip on the one side, and the struggle to get released on the other. At length the shore was reached, but Mr. Balston was in such a condition from exhaustion that for a few minutes it appeared as if life were extinct. He was, however, restored to consciousness, and, with the man whose life he had so gallantly saved, conveyed to a hotel, where they gradually recovered from the effects of the terrible struggle in which they had been engaged.’ (Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 6 August 1865 refers)
Sold with copied research. 763
Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (John Martin, Coast Guard, 8 December 1886.) with integral top riband buckle, suspension claw slack, minor edge bruise, otherwise good very fine
£100-£140 Case No 23376:
‘The fishing boat Polly in attempting to reach the shore was capsized in the heavy surf. Martin fastened a rope round his waist, rushed into the sea, and succeeded in rescuing Joseph Garnon, other two men were drowned. The sea was heavy as the lifeboat got upset.’
John Martin/Martyn was born in Minehead, Somerset in September 1837. He joined the Coast Guard as an Ordinary Seaman, and advanced to Commissioned Boatman in May 1877 (awarded the L.S. & G.C. in June 1875). He was stationed at Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire at the time of the above incident. The rescue occurred in Fishguard Bay, 8 December 1886. Martin retired, 28 September 1887, having reached the compulsory retirement age of fifty and was Shore Pensioned having completed nearly 30 years service.
Sold with copied research. 764
Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Elijah Cox. 1st May. 1892.) with integral top riband buckle, good very fine
£100-£140 Case No 25888: ‘At great personal risk, rescued William Goldsworthy from drowning in the Bristol Channel, on the 1st May, 1892.
Cox was an expert swimmer, and went to the assistance of Goldsworthy and another, and was the means of getting some wreckage for them to hold on to until they were taken into a boat.’
Elijah Cox was born in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1855, the son of Charles Cox, a Bristol Channel pilot. Cox became a licensed Bristol Channel pilot himself (as well as his two brothers), and was Master of the steam tug Queen of the Usk out of Newport in 1883. He was subsequently appointed Master of the Templar and the Leda, the latter owned by his brother and both out of Newport.
At 11am on 1 May 1892 the Leda was run down by the steamship Radyr, in Morfa Bay, Pendine, in the Bristol Channel. The three men who comprised the crew of the Leda were thrown into the water by the force of the impact. Both Cox and Goldsworthy were taken to Newport Infirmary, with Cox suffering from ‘concussion of the spine.’ The event, as well as the rest of the Cox family life, received considerable coverage in the local press over the coming years. A history of brawling at Newport Pilots’ meetings and inter-family problems played out in the local press.
Cox died in Newport in June 1934. Sold with copied research.
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