Genealogy Chat
Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!
- The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
- You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
- And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
- The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.
Quick Search
Single word search
Icons
- New posts
- No new posts
- Thread closed
- Stickied, new posts
- Stickied, no new posts
Commemorative Medal - HMS Vengeance
| Profile | Posted by | Options | Post Date |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cliff | Report | 15 Jul 2006 14:01 |
|
One of my relatives left behind what appears to be a commemorative medal. It seems to be of some soft metal and on the front (face) is a nice raised picture of a battleship with 'HMS VENGEANCE' below it. Above the ship it reads 'C.G.ILIFFE. JEWELLER. BARROW' (Presumable Barrow-in-Furness, although I do not know of any family connections there) The back (do they call it obverse?) reads '1st BATTLESHIP LAUNCHED AT BARROW 25.7.99' Does anyone have any idea what this is or who it would be given to? Was it the 18th century forerunner of a free toy with every 'happy meal'? Just curious. Cliff |
|||
|
Merry | Report | 15 Jul 2006 15:01 |
|
lol! I don't know the answer to your question, but thought I'd nudge the thread up by posting..... http://www.hms-vengeance|(.)co.uk/hms.htm (remove brackets) has some good pictures of the ship to which you refer and some details of what happened to it - commissioned 1899, broken up 1923. Merry |
|||
|
Cliff | Report | 15 Jul 2006 17:48 |
|
Yes, I found that site. Thanks, Monty. Just trying to satisfy my curiosity. Cliff |
|||
|
Merry | Report | 15 Jul 2006 20:21 |
|
Do you think it might just be a locally produced coin/medal to commemorate the launch of the ship? The jeweller, Charles Iliffe, appears on the 1901 census as a Jeweller + Watch Dealer, Shopkeeper, at 68 Duke St, Barrow, so his business sounds like a fairly small concern......maybe he produced these and sold them in his shop....hence his name being on them. Don't know how you ended up with it though, if your family are not from there, or shipbuilders! Hang on whilst I give my crystal ball a rub! Merry |
|||
|
Cliff | Report | 15 Jul 2006 20:31 |
|
Yup, that I was thinking. Or that they had been handed out to people who had worked on building the ship. There was a shipwright in the family but the time and place is wrong for that. Googled Iliffe but didn't think of checking the census DUH Ne'er mind - I'll stickit away again and the kids can put it on e-bay after I've gone LOL Thanks for your trouble Cliff |
|||
|
Anne | Report | 15 Jul 2006 20:54 |
|
My Dad's great uncle (Walter Coleman) was a Royal Naval Engineer. He appears in Barrow on the 1901 census and from his naval record it seems he was partly in charge of the fitting out of HMS Vengeance after its launch. Don't know what the 'medal' would be but thought you might be interested in this real connection!! Anne |
|||
|
Cliff | Report | 15 Jul 2006 23:08 |
|
Thanks for that Anne. I can see that what was a fleeting 'I wonder' will bcome (another) obsession! Cliff |
|||