Medal of George IV commemorating the opening of the Royal Pier, Brighton
Benjamin Wyon (1802 - 1858)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1823
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
53 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 517662.4
Summary
Bronze, Medal of George IV commemorating the opening of the Royal Pier, Brighton, Benjamin Wyon (1802-1858), 1823. A bronze medal by Benjamin Wyon commemorating the completion of the Royal Pier in Brighton in 1823. The obverse has the head of the King in profile, wearing a laurel wreath and facing right. On the reverse a view of the Royal Pier, extending into the sea, with an descriptive inscription. Mounted in a frame with ten other medals and tokens commemorating and celebrating King George IV (1762-1830, reigned 1820-30) (NT 517662).
Full description
This medal is one of the earliest works by Benjamin Wyon, a scion of the Wyon dynasty of medallists. Benjamin has been described as the ‘medallist of some of the finest English architectural pieces in the nineteenth century.’ (Taylor 1989, p. 226). He was taught the art of the medallist by his elder brother Thomas Wyon the Younger (1792-1817), who was Chief Engraver to the Mint. In 1831 Benjamin was appointed Chief Engraver of His Majesty’s Seals, in succession to his father Thomas Wyon the Elder (1767-1830), holding the post for the remainder of his life. Benjamin Wyon’s handling of building subjects is distinctive and properly architectural, in that he usually shows a view of the building in true elevation, as if taken from the architect’s drawing board, and modelled in high relief. The Royal Pier, the full name of which was the Royal Suspension Chain Pier, is here depicted as a series of suspension spans, linked by the chains that gave the structure its popular name of the Chain Pier. The four hollow supporting towers were made of cast iron, each containing a small shop. The pier was designed by the naval engineer Sir Samuel Brown (1776-1852), using the improved method for manufacturing chain links that he had designed for use in ship cables and suspension bridges. It was originally designed as a landing stage for cross-Channel cargo and passenger boats, but quickly became a fashionable place for the promenade and, as such, was a prototype for future pleasure piers. The Royal Pier collapsed during a storm in 1896, to be replaced by the Palace Pier in 1898. The remains of its tapering towers can still be seen at low tide, whilst the original entrance kiosks also survive and are used as small shops on the Palace Pier. The original signal cannon also survives. This was used in bad weather to alert ships of the pier’s location, and it is today also displayed on the Palace Pier. Brighton played an immensely important part in the life of King George IV, whilst the town owed its initial popularity as a watering hole to the patronage of George for many years. George first visited Brighton in the 1780s when he was Prince of Wales. He was already at this early stage in his life beginning to suffer from ill health, so was advised by his physicians to go to Brighton to benefit from the therapeutic properties of the sea. The town was already becoming a fashionable seaside resort, but the arrival of the Prince of Wales and his royal entourage quickly made it a beacon for high society, such that it quickly expanded and gained the nickname ‘London by the sea’. The Prince’s lavish and extravagant lifestyle in the town became notorious. He spent much time there with his great love Mrs Maria Fitzherbert, whom he had secretly and illegally married. He gradually expanded his lodging house, firstly turning it into a villa, the Marine Pavilion, and later (1815-23, John Nash) the celebrated Brighton Pavilion. Jeremy Warren, 2020
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents in 1966.
Credit line
National Trust Collections (Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection)
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse: Legend: GEORGIUS IIII D: G: / BRITANNIAR: REX F: D: Artist’s signature, under truncation: B: WYON SC: Reverse: Legend: BRIGHTHELMSTONE ROYAL PIER. In exergue: DESIGNED & ERECTED BY / SAMUEL BROWN ESQ : / COMMANDER IN HIS MAJESTY’S NAVY / 1823 At bottom: PUBLISHED BY T. WYON & SON.
Makers and roles
Benjamin Wyon (1802 - 1858), medallist
References
Brown 1980: Laurence Brown, A catalogue of British historical medals 1760-1960, Vol.I. The accession of George III to the death of William IV, London 1980, p. 296, no.1215 Taylor 1989: Jeremy Taylor, The Architectural Medal. England in the Nineteenth Century, London 1989, p. 85, no. 79a Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 163, no. 1168, Pl. 128