The Union of England and Scotland
John Croker (1670 - 1741)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1707
Materials
Copper
Measurements
346 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773296
Summary
Copper, medal commemorating the Union of England and Scotland, by John Croker (1670 - 1741) and Samuel Bull (fl.1707 - 1715), struck London, 1707. A copper medal by John Croker and Samuel Bull commemorating the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, which led to the creation of today’s United Kingdom. On the obverse, by Croker, is a bust portrait in profile of Queen Anne facing left, her hair tied at top, lovelock on left shoulder, wearing loose gown. Latin legend ‘Anne by the Grace of God Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland.’ The artist’s initials are below the bust. The reverse by Bull has the arms of Britain in a garnished shield on a pedestal, inscribed with the Queen’s motto SEMPER EADEM (‘Always the same’). Two winged putti hold a crown above the arms, and the collar and George of the Garter below them. At bottom a rose and thistle upon a single stalk, symbolising the union of England and Scotland, and the artist’s initials.
Full description
The medal is one of a number issued to celebrate the Act of Union between England and Scotland, which came into effect on 1 May 1707. England and Scotland had shared a monarch since the accession of King James I of England and James VI of Scotland in 1603, but the monarchies had remained separate, with both states maintaining their own legislatures. Several attempts were made in the course of the 17th century to unite the two entities, without success. One of the motives for a renewed attempt at union, negotiations for which began in 1705, was the disastrous outcome of the Darien scheme, a Scottish attempt to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama for the furtherance of trade with the East. Its failure left its many Scottish investors bankrupted or heavily indebted. The Scots hoped that union would, as indeed it did, create wider opportunities for them both within Great Britain but also in the wider world, in which England had been rapidly becoming an ever-more important player. The English saw the union as bringing political stability after the conflicts of the seventeenth century, notably by removing the risk in the future of separate monarchs in Scotland and England. From the outset of her reign, achieving the union of her two principal realms had been a key wish of Queen Anne, hence the close emphasis on the monarch in this medal. Although a majority among the Scottish elites supported the notion of union, it was deeply and widely unpopular within the wider Scottish population, sowing the seeds for the renewal of Jacobite hopes. Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Given to the National Trust in 1993 by George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998).
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: ANNA. D: G. MAG. BR. FR. ET. HIB : REG. Obverse, on truncation : I.C. Reverse: SEMPER EADEM Reverse, at rear: S.B.
Makers and roles
John Croker (1670 - 1741), medallist Samuel Bull (fl.1707 - 1715), medallist
References
Hawkins, Franks and Grueber 1885: Edward Hawkins, Augustus W. Franks and Herbert A. Grueber (eds.), Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II, 2 vols., London 1885, p. 297, no. 112. Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 78, no. 425. Forsyth 2017: David Forsyth (ed.), Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites, exh. cat., venue: National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 2017, pp. 210-12, no. 72.