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Great Britain - 1809

Colonel Wardle

Obverse:

Draped bust of Colonel Gwyllym Wardle three-quarter right. GWYLLIM LLOYD WARDLE ESQ^R M.P.

Legend:

A MOST MAGNANIMOUS, FIRM, CANDID, AND INDEPENDENT PATRIOT.

Size:

53 mm.

Reverse:

THE DUTY / WHICH I OWE MY / COUNTRY, / IS PARAMOUNT / TO / EVERY OTHER / CONSIDERATION . / - / SEE M^R WARDLE'S SPEECH / ON THE CHARGES AG^T. H.R.H. / THE DUKE OF YORK / MARCH . 8 . 1809

BHM:

AE, WM 53 by P. Wyon.
AE R; WM R.
AM; BM; BMAG; FM.


Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle (1762-1833), soldier and politician, MP for Okehampton, 1807-12. He attacked the Duke of York for granting commissions in the army through his mistress Mary Anne Clarke and through a parlimentary committee secured the Duke's retirement as Commander-in-Chief of the army. He was suspected of collusion with Mrs Clarke and went abroad to escape his creditors. He died in Florence. This medal was published by James Bissett of Birmingham (1762?-1832) See Dictionary of National Biography V, p. 100.
The obverse design is taken from an original portrait and the reverse legend from Wardle's speech in the House of Commons on 8th March 1809. The specimen in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a ring fixed to the edge and is suspended from a ribbon with a narrow centre red stripe bordered by two narrow white and two thick purple stripes.
from British Historical Medals, Volume 1, p. 164