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June/July 2005 Medal NewsletterAUCTION NEWS The other foreign awards include the Portuguese, Spanish, Vatican and Monaco orders bestowed upon three distinguished Portuguese doctors and politicians, Dr. Professor Alphonse Rodrigues Pereira, Dr Antoine Maria de Bettencourt Rodrigues (1854-1933), Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Admiral Americo Rodrigues Thomas, President of the Republic of Portugal. Most of these awards come with the original documents.
Another rarity is the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Golden Measure of Korea. This was the Empire of Korea’s highest honour and corresponds to the Collar of the Japanese Order of the Chrysanthemum. It is exceptionally rare, being reserved mainly for members of the Imperial household and foreign ruling families and heads of state. Among the British gallantry and campaign medals mention must be made of the Victoria Cross group to Sergeant Alfred Richards, Lancashire Fusiliers, one of the famous ‘Six Before Breakfast’ Victoria Crosses won by the Regiment during their landing under heavy enemy fire at W Beach, Cape Helles, Galliopli, 25 April 1915. Two of the six Victoria Crosses won that morning are now in the Fusiliers Lancashire Museum, Bury. Sergeant Richards was seriously wounded, subsequently lost a leg, and went on to marry the nurse who tended him in hospital.
Rona Robinson was the first ever woman to gain a first class BSc in the Honours School of Chemistry, Victoria University, Manchester in 1905; she went on to pursue a career as a research chemist. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union (the Suffragettes) in its early years and was an organiser in the Manchester area at least as early as 1909 where she soon gained a reputation as an independent and single-minded operator which did not always meet with the full approval of the WSPU national leadership.
It is reported that after her release from prison, Rona attended at a memorable meeting at the ballroom, White City, Manchester, which probably took place at the very beginning of October, when along with Dora Marsden (another prominent Manchester WSPU comrade) and Emily Wilding Davison (later killed when she threw herself beneath the King's horse at the Derby) she received her WSPU Medal from Mrs Pankhurst herself. This must have been one of the very first Hunger Strike Medals to be awarded, as Marion Dunlop-Wallace, the first WSPU woman to go on hunger strike (91 hours), had only done so some six weeks earlier. Rona was next arrested in Manchester on 4 October 1909 together with two other university women while convening outside Victoria University Building, Manchester, from which they had been evicted. Wearing their university robes, they had just attended a meeting presided over by Lord Morley, the Chancellor, an occasion on which, before he could take his seat, the three had questioned him concerning the condition of a number of women being force-fed in Winsom Green prison, Birmingham. They were charged with disorderly conduct but these charges were later dropped. Rona's second period of imprisonment the same year resulted from a summons issued against her in respect of damage to prison property (seven panes of glass to the value of one shilling and six pence) arising out of her time in Walton Prison. When arrested in Manchester, she was seen by a doctor who diagnosed laryngeal catarrh and a weak and irregular action of her heart. He advised that a hunger strike or force-feeding would be very dangerous. Rona appeared before a Stipendiary Magistrate after transfer to Liverpool and found a second charge had been added. This claimed that she had broken more cell windows during her current arrest and had caused damage of two shillings. The second count was dropped by the Magistrate but she was found guilty of the first and fined, with the alternative of 14 days imprisonment. Inevitably she took the latter option and once more she refused all food. After 72 hours, she was released in a very weakened state having suffered from sleeplessness, headaches and violent sickness. In later life she blamed her poor health on her hard experiences in prison. Rona Robinson's WSPU Medal is estimated at GBP 3500-4500.
The Victoria Cross Society The Victoria Cross Society aims to keep alive the memory of this select band of exceptionally brave men, and it is with this view in mind that we invite you to join. The Society seeks to educate, enlighten, stimulate and further interest and knowledge in the history and personalities associated with the Victoria Cross.
A Society binder can be purchased to keep your journals in for years to come. A Society pin is also available for members. Our membership is worldwide, particularly from the Commonwealth, the USA and Europe.
For more information please see our website www.victoriacrosssociety.com, or contact: The Victoria Cross Society
New Reference Work for Medal Collectors THE ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS OF THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK by Lars Stevensborg. Hardcase, 850 pages, illustrated in colour and in black and white £50.00 (plus postage and packing £5.00). Although written in Danish, which will make much of the text inaccessible to most collectors, this work is well illustrated with about 1000 photographs and illustrations which will enable collectors to easily identify Danish awards. To assist even further there are 35 pages of English summaries and captions. The book deals with orders, decorations and medals instituted from the mid-fifteenth century and covers Royal Orders, Rennaisance and Baroque Medals, Royal Commemorative Medals 1892-2001, Campaign Medals, Gallantry Awards, Military and Civilian Long Service Medals, Private Organisation Awards with Royal Approval, Foreign and International Awards with Permanent Royal Permission for Wear, Icelandic Awards 1918-44, and Miniature Medals.
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The
21 July auction of Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
contains a superb collection of Russian decorations. As well as the collar
of St Andrew mentioned last month there are many badges, including a rare
St Anne ‘with diamonds’ neck badge, and another rare St Anne
neck badge, with crown, with maker’s mark KK for Kammerer and Keibel.
Among the several badges of St Vladimir there are two badges for 25 and
35 years service. 
Pride
of place among the other European decorations is an exceptionally rare
and very fine quality collar and badge of the Saint Esprit or Order of
the Holy Spirit. This was the highest award under the French Kingdom,
before the Revolution abolished all such royal honours, and was still
a coveted award under the restored monarchy after 1815. This superb gold
and enamel collar, in its original large fitted case, dates from the first
half of the 19th century.
Another
rather interesting lot is the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)
Hunger Strike Medal to Rona Robinson, a prominent Northern Suffragette.
She
first came to national prominence when she took part in a deputation to
see Prime Minister Asquith in 1909, but later the same year was to achieve
greater notoriety for her involvement in an incident that was widely reported
in the national press. On 20 August, Minister of War Richard Burdon Haldane
MP (later Lord Haldane) was due to speak at the Sun Hall, Liverpool. A
group of seven women, including Rona, rented a house close to the Hall,
which they occupied prior to the meeting. One of them, Mrs Leigh, climbed
out of a window and onto the roof where, with the help of her colleagues,
she tore off slates and bricks to hurl at the Hall windows. When Haldane
rose to speak, a woman's voice rang through a megaphone calling attention
to the Suffragette demand for votes for women. Haldane's opening sentences
were then punctuated by a missile smashing one of the windows. More slates
and bricks followed and windows were falling in everywhere. The Police
were soon alerted. The culprits were arrested and immediately went on
hunger strike. When brought before a Stipendiary Magistrate on the 24th,
they pleaded guilty as charged of damage estimated at three pounds and
nine shillings but insisted that their objectives were political not criminal.
All were sentenced to terms of imprisonment in Walton Jail, where their
hunger strike continued. After 123 hours without food, a doctor ordered
that Rona be taken to hospital but she was released and nursed back to
health 'to take her place once more in the fighting line'. 
Ever
since its inception in 1856 there has been a mystique surrounding this
simple bronze cross that shows no sign of fading. Today the interest in
the Victoria Cross is as strong as ever and continues to attract military
historians, collectors and the general public alike.
Membership
of the Society costs £25 per annum (£30 for overseas members).
For this the member receives two attractively bound journals each year,
published in March and October. Only members will receive the journal
free of charge.