Lord Jersey’s Smithfield Club Prize Medal
William Wyon (1795 - 1851)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1845
Materials
Silver
Measurements
486 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773321
Summary
Silver, Lord Jersey’s Smithfield Club Prize Medal, by William Wyon (1795-1851), struck London, United Kingdom, 1845. An example in silver of the Smithfield Club Prize Medal, by William Wyon (1795-1851), awarded for improvements in the breeding of cattle. The obverse has a bust portrait facing left of John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp and Third Earl Spencer (1782-1845), President of the Smithfield Club, whilst on the reverse is a bust portrait facing right of Charles Gordon Lennox, fifth Duke of Richmond (1791-1860), Vice-President of the Club until 1845, when he succeeded Earl Spencer as President. This example was awarded to the 7th Earl of Jersey. In its original red leather box, with the badge of William Wyon on the inside of the lid.
Full description
The Smithfield Club, today’s Royal Smithfield Club, was instituted as the Smithfield Cattle & Sheep Society in 1798 and founded as the Smithfield Club in 1802. The Club’s aims, as explained on its present-day website, are ‘working for the benefit of the public promoting best practice in the production of quality livestock for the British meat industry to improve and promote the breeding of cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and other livestock.’ The Club was responsible for the establishment of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1838. The Club’s President between 1825 and 1845 was the Third Earl Spencer, a passionate agriculturalist, who during his presidency restored the financial fortunes of the organisation. After his death in 1845. Lord Spencer’s successor as President was the Duke of Richmond, who is especially noted for the improvements he effected in the breeding of Southdown cattle. The medal was awarded as a prize by the Smithfield Club over many years, with the details of the winner and the prize being engraved on the edge; the inscription on this example records that it was presented to Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey (1845-1915), whose sheep were awarded a prize at a show in 1883. Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Acquired from Christopher Eimer in 1991 by George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998). Given to the National Trust in 1993.
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: JOHN CHARLES EARL SPENCER. 1825-1845. Obverse, below truncation: W. WYON, R.A. Reverse, legend: CHARLES DUKE OF RICHMOND K: G: PRESIDENT OF THE SMITHFIELD CLUB. Reverse, below truncation: W. WYON, R.A. Edge: AS BREEDER BEST PEN OF SHEEP IN CLASS IX. 1883. EARL OF JERSEY, MIDDLETON PARK, BICESTER, OXON
Makers and roles
William Wyon (1795 - 1851), medallist
References
Brown 1987: Laurence Brown, British Historical Medals 1837-1901. The Reign of Queen Victoria, London 1987, p. 110, no. 2218. Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 190, no. 1400, Pl. 153.