Description
Liverpool Shipwreck & Humane Society, Swimming Medal in Silver, earned by H. Mawdesley, of the Gordon Institute.
A good old Victorian issue with silver hallmarks in the fitted case of issue by R.C. Oldfield.
Engraved on the reverse: “Presented by the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society to H. MAWDESLEY, Pupil in the Gordon Institute, for proficiency in Swimming Exercises with the object of Saving Life, October 1897.”
A scarce earlier issue of the medal first awarded in 1885 all the way until about 2017, only about 1238 medals in silver have been awarded.
The Gordon “Working Lads” Institute, currently known as Kirkdale Community Centre was first opened circa 1886, by William Cliff, a wealthy Liverpool Merchant who paid £50,000 in memory of his eldest son who died at the age of 11 in 1853.
It was named after the recently deceased Major General Gordon of Khartoum. The institute provided educational, recreational and sporting facilities to the poor boys of Liverpool, it appears young Mawdesley was a pupil there learning to swim.
The Liverpool Shipwreck Society offer the following interesting information regarding the medal:
in 1885 the Swimming & Life-Saving Medal was introduced for award to school children in the Liverpool area. Originally a silver medal was awarded to the best boy and best girl at each school that entered a minimum of eight swimmers competing against each other. In the next few years the number of competitors increased each year reaching as many as nineteen in the sixth year but, due to the high cost of manufacturing silver medals they were later downgraded to bronze. The silver medal was then only awarded as a special end of year championship prize. The Society was obliged to withdraw the silver medal altogether from its awards.
The Swimming Medal is possibly the Society’s most attractive medal and must have been highly prized by its winners. Having a blue and white striped ribbon, it has an ornamental back-plate with a laurel (left) and oak (right) leaf surround with superimposed two oars and a trident, and again superimposed a roped lifebelt and within it a shield bearing the Liver Bird crest. The swivel suspender consists of two open mouthed dolphins with twisted tails. The reverse of the medal is plain for inscription.
From 1885 to 2016 the Society has awarded 1,238 Silver and 964 Bronze Swimming Proficiency Medals. Since the Silver Medal was withdrawn, the Society has also awarded many framed Swimming Proficiency Certificates and also Costume Badges to winners and runners-up at each school.
At the AGM in November 2017 the Committee took the decision to suspend the award of the swimming medals, badges and certificates. Sadly the participation of schools dwindled in the later years as costs increased.
