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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: rachael21 on Sunday 06 May 12 17:06 BST (UK)
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Hi recently found a bronze medal of Grandads. it says Royal visit to the borough of Bootle july 11th 1913 Queen Mary and king Geogre v. could anyone tell me about this medal and why my grandad would have it.
many thanks :)
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HM the King whilst visiting Liverpool went aboard the Mauretania (the wood paneling from her first class dining room is in a wine bar at the foot of Park Street in Bristol). 100 cadets formed a guard of honour on board the liner. The King presented the Gold Medal in person.
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Thank you very much for that information, I know that my great Grandad was a carpenter,later he also worked on the Doncaster Railways so i wonder still if he was in Bootle in 1913 or it was given to him by someone else. thanks again.
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Hi Rachael
I also have one of these 1913 coins / medals, which was given to me by a friend due to my Bootle (Lancs) connections and interest in coins. I cleaned mine and it looks like gold, but not sure it is gold. I'd like to know how my friend's grandfather got it - he's from Dundee so could have been in the merchant navy. Did you ever find any more information about it? Tony
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The main reason for that royal visit was for the formal opening of Gladstone Dock, the biggest of its day. There were receptions, displays and a river cruise by the King and Queen.
A
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Hi Ainslie
Thanks for this. The King and Queen were very busy during their time in the North-West. Do you know why those particular medals were handed out by the King on the Mauritania as mentioned by lisamc10? Had the recipients done something special? Tony
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A medal dealer gave me some interesting background info on the King and Queen's visit to the North-West in 1913, but nothing definite on the medal itself. However, the archived edition of The Bootle Times newspaper for the day says 12,000 (bronze) medals were given out to Bootle schoolchildren to commemorate the royal visit, and the parade route from Gladstone Dock through the centre of Bootle and out to Walton, Everton FC and Knowsley was a festival of colour. The opening of the Gladstone Dock was one of the highlights of the visit. There's no mention of the medals being presented by the King on board the Mauritania, but he certainly boarded it. The medal may be worth much more to descendents of the the original recipients, rather than a medal collector.
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Thanks ever so much for the information, i will tell my family.
Kind regards
Rachael