The medals of Soho near Birmingham
1800 Great Britain (BHM-483) Failed Assassination Medal Bronze With Shells - Type 2 Bust

Owner Comments:

As noted by Pollard (1970), there are two distinct obverse busts found on the Preservation of George III medals. The entry immediately before this listing depicts the Type 1 bust, while the current entry depicts the Type 2 bust. I provide a thorough description of the obverse and reverse design of all medals in this set. Any differences between the types should be apparent from those descriptions. It is also worth noting that there are at least two distinct reverse types as well. I will forgo any discussion of the different reverse types for now and will introduce them when I find an acceptable example to add to the set. I provide relevant information pertaining to the development of this medal in the write-up for the piece with the Type 1 bust.

Historical Context:

If you have not already done so, please stop here and read the write-up for the medal that immediately precedes this entry, which provides a modern reflection of the events that transpired on May 15th, 1800. The current write-up examines the same history but through the lens of two contemporary newspaper reports from my collection. The transcripts below have been kept as close to their original style as possible.

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE HIS MAJESTY It is with a mingled feeling of horror and congratulation that we have to state what last night happened at Drury Lane Theatre. At the moment when HIS MAJESTY entered his box, a man stationed in the Pit, near the Orchestra on the right hand side, suddenly stood up, and discharged a pistol at the Royal Person. His Majesty seemed to us to be alone in the box at the moment, and had advanced about four steps from the door. On the report of the pistol, His Majesty stopped, stood firmly. The house was immediately in an uproar, and the cry of “seize him,” burster from every part of the Theatre. The King, apparently not the least disconcerted, came nearly to the front of the box. The man who committed the crime was seized and conveyed from the Pit. The audience vehemently called out, “shew him!” . In consequence of which loyal clamor Kelly, who, with a multitude of persons belonging to the Theatre, had rushed upon the Stage, came forward and assured them that the culprit was in safe custody. The indignation of the Audience was soothed by this intelligence, and their feelings gave way to loyal rapture, at the happy escape of their revered monarch. “God save the King” was universally demanded. It was sung by all the performers, and encored. The curtain drew up for the commencement of the play; but Bannister, Jun. was not suffered to proceed till something more could be learned respecting the wretch who had made this diabolical attempt. Bannister and Mrs. Jordan both again assured the Audience that the culprit was perfectly secured, and the Play was then suffered to go on without further interruption. The Duke of York, Lord Salisbury, and several other Noblemen, with the assistance of some Magistrates, entered into an examination of the offender in one of the rooms of the Theatre. It appears the name of the man is Hadfield; that he was a soldier in the British Service in the late Expedition to Holland; and was taken prisoner by the French. He acknowledged that he had loaded the pistol with a brace of slugs, but declared that he did not mean to injure His Majesty. He said that, being tired of his life, and unwilling to destroy himself, he had formed the plan he had adopted, hoping that the Populace would have killed him upon the spot. When he was asked why he loaded the pistol with slugs if he intended no mischief, he could not give any satisfactory answer. He stated his having served under the Duke of York, of whose private virtue and military conduct he spoke in high terms. He was perfectly composed and collected throughout the examination. The man, as we understand, was afterwards conveyed in a coach to the New Prison in Cold-Bath-Fields. The alarm was soon spread, and the neighborhood of the Theatre was thronged by a multitude, who, if the man had not been well guarded on quitting the Theatre, seemed likely, by the rage that actuated them, to have made him a sacrifice on the spot. The man, it is said, had quitted the Army, and recently was employed as a Silversmith. He appears to be about forty years of age, and is a remarkably ill-looking man, with a great scar on his face. He is of middle stature. Several persons attended the examination in the Theatre, and all concurred in their testimony as to the general statement of the circumstances which had occurred. Her Majesty entered soon after the event had taken place, and appeared to be much agitated, clasping her hands with great emotion. The Princesses were less capable of controlling their feelings, and one of them was with difficulty prevented from fainting in the sight of the Audience. During the performance of “God save the King” every passage that referred to the safety of His Majesty was received with the Thunder of applause, and shoutings of ”Huzza!” at the end of the Farce, which was The Humorist, “God save the King” was again demanded, and Kelly sung the following additional verse, down to the pawn the momentous incident of the night: “From every latent Foe, From the Assassin's blow, God save the King. O’er him thine arm extend, for Britain's sake defend Our Father, Prince, and Friend, God save the King”. The stanza gave the audience peculiar pleasure, and was encored by the eager desire of the whole house. Another Account Just as His Majesty entered his Box, and was bowing to the Audience with his usual condescension, a person who sat in the second row from the Orchestra, but towards the middle of the Pit, got upon the seat, and leveling a horse-pistol towards the King's Box, fired it. The act was so instantaneous as to prevent all the persons near him from seeing his design in time to defeat it, though we learn that providentially a Gentleman who sat next him, Mr. Holroyd, of Scotland Yard, had the good fortune to raise the arm of the assassin, so as to direct the contents of the pistol towards the roof of the box. The audience remained for a second in agony of suspense. His Majesty showed the most perfect composure, turned his eye towards the man, and continue standing till the Queen entered, who displayed also the most dignified courage. After the first moment of stupor, the persons around him and the musicians from the orchestra seized the man, and hurried him over the Palisades into the musician's room. Mr. Major Wright, a Solicitor of eminence in Wellclose-square, who sat immediately behind him, was the first to secure him. He dropped the pistol; but Mr. Wright found it under the seat. The Audience, as may be conceived, after the first moment of stupor had subsided, first into the most violent emotions. Terror, dismay, and rage remarked on every countenance, except that of His Majesty, who sat with the utmost serenity, while the Queen, was just near enough to hear the report and see the flash, collected confidence from his magnanimity. The Princesses were apprized of the event before they entered the Box - they melted into tears. Mr. Sheridan, assisted by Mr. Wigstead, the Magistrate, proceeded immediately to examine the man in the room into which he had been conducted, and where he had been searched, to see if he had any other firearms. or papers. He had none. Mr. Tamplin, a trumpeter in the band, who assisted in taking him over the Orchestra, recognize the man to be a Soldier, and pulling open his coat, found that he had on a military waistcoat, with the button of the 15th Light Dragoons. It was an officer's old waistcoat. On being questioned by Mr. Sheridan, he said, “he had no objection to tell who he was. It was not over yet, there was a great deal more and worse to be done. His name was James Hadfield. He had served his time to a working silversmith, but had enlisted into the 15th Light Dragoons, and had fought for his King and Country.” At this time the Prince of Wales and Duke of York entered the room, to be present at the examination. He immediately turned to the Duke, and said ” I know your Royal Highness - God bless you. You are a good fellow. I have served with your Highness, and (pointing to a deep cut over his eye, and another long scar on his cheek) said, I got these, and more than these, in fighting by your side. At Lincelles I was left three hours among the dead in a ditch, and was taken prisoner by the French. I had my arm broken by a shot, and eight sabre wounds in my head; but I recovered, and here I am.” he then gave the following account of himself and his conduct: He said, that having been discharged from the Army on account of his wounds, he had returned to London, and now lived by working at his own trade. You had a good deal of money; he worked for Mr. Solomon Hougham. Being weary of life, he last week bought a pair of pistols from one William Wakelin, a hairdresser and broker, in St. John Street (Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Wigstead immediately sent persons to bring Wakelin and his Master to the Theatre). He told him they were for his young master, who would give him a blunderbuss in exchange. That he had borrowed a crown from his master that morning, with which he had bought some powder, and had gone to the House of Mrs. Mason, in Red Lion St., to have some beer; that he went backwards to the yard, and There he tried his pistols. He felt one of them good for nothing, and left it behind. In his own trade he used lead, and he cast himself two slugs, with which he loaded his pistol, and came to the Theatre. At this part of the narrative Sir William Addington, the Magistrate, arrived, and took the Chair: he went over the examination of the persons who had secured him, and who had seen the pistols leveled at His Majesty. Sir William said, it was most material to ascertain that fact, whether the pistol was leveled at the sacred Person of His Majesty, or fired at random, as the one case would be High Treason, the other not. He asked Hatfield what had induced him to attempt the life of the best of the Sovereigns. He answered, that he ” had not attempted to kill the King. He had fired his pistol over the Royal Box. He was a good shot as any in England; but he was himself weary of life - he wished for death, but not to die by his own hands. He was desirous to raise an alarm, and wished that the spectators might fall upon him. He hoped that his life was forfeited.” Being asked if he had any accomplices he solemnly declared that he had none, and with great energy took god to witness, and laid his hands on his heart. From this time he began to show manifest signs of mental derangement. When asked who his father was he said he had been postillion to some Duke; but could not say what Duke. He talked in a mysterious way of dreams, and of a Great Commission he had received in his sleep; that he knew he was to be a martyr, and was to be persecuted like his Great Master, Jesus Christ. He had been persecuted in France; but he had not yet been sufficiently tried. He knew that he was to endure; but he begged Sir William Addington to remember that Jesus Christ had his trial before he was crucified. That many other incoherent things in the same style. William Wakelin being the person from whom he had bought the pistols, being bought brought to the house, was examined. He said it was true that he had bought a pair of pistols of him, and that he had said they were for his young master, who would give him a blunderbuss for them; but he had not yet to got the blunderbuss. He knew very little of Hadfield, but knew where he worked, and had heard a good character of him, but that the least drink affected his head. Several persons from the House of Mrs. Mason, his acquaintance, confirmed this fact; and they said they ascribed this to the very severe wounds he had received in the head. The least drink quite deranged him. Upon this evidence he was committed to Cold Bath Fields for re-examination; and the Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, Duke of Cumberland, and Mr. Sheridan, conducted him thither. His Majesty's Privy Council however, desiring to examine him forthwith, to discover if he had any accomplices, he was taken to the Duke of Portland's Office, where he underwent another examination. Mr. Major Wright, Mr. Holroyd, Mr. Tamplin, Mr. Calkin, Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Francis Wood, Mr. Lion, and Mr. Dietz, the persons who were instrumental in securing him, and whose evidence is the best material to his directing the pistols towards his Majesty's Box, if not towards his sacred Person, also attended, and were directed to attend again this day at o’clock, when a Council was to be held. After this the Duke of Clarence, Duke of Cumberland, and Mr. Sheridan, and a number of Officers, went back to the Theatre, and after Their Majesties had withdrawn, the most strict search was made for the slugs. A mark was discovered in the top of the canopy over the Royal Box, and in the orchestra below a flattened and irregular piece of lead was found, supposed to have recoiled from the place where it struck. No other slug or ball was found. It was most providential that at this Theatre the Royal Box is elevated more than 15 feet from the Pit; so that from the place where Hadfield leveled his pistol, he was between 30 and 40 feet distant from his Majesty's Person.

ATTEMPT ON THE KING'S LIFE The examinations on the subject of the atrocious attempt on His Majesty's life are now nearly brought to a close, and they were yesterday sent to the Attorney and Solicitor-General, as materials on which to form the Prosecution, which it's forthwith to take place by Special Commission; and also to prepare a Bill to be brought into Parliament, and not for the extension of the Treason Laws, but to place the same safeguard over His Majesty’s life as over that of his meanest Subject. The whole of the examinations have been taken by Richard Ford, Esq. not by the Privy Council; and through the whole of the interesting business, he has been most zealously assisted by the Prince of Wales and his three Royal Brothers; some of whom were constantly present, and all displaying the most affectionate duty, and the most anxious interest. We have avoided entering into all of the loose and vague reports touching the examinations. We can now, however, state the summary of them, and the result, as they have struck those who have most attentively weighed the whole of the evidence on the case, and as they will appear on the trial. Above 40 witnesses and all have been examined. Yesterday a number of persons to whom James Hadfield himself referred for his character, and particularly a companion whom he familiarly called Harry, we're under examination. From these persons, as well as from his second wife, with whom he lives, the uniform account is that, unless at particular times in these always after liquor, he never showed the least symptom of insanity. His wounds, which were dreadful, and which made him for a long time a spectacle of horror and of compassion, made him furious under the least indulgence. Four months ago he had a long and severe fit of insanity. About 3 weeks ago he had another, but which was short and transitory. In both instances they sprung from liquor. Since that time up to the very moment of the horrible attempt, he was calm, composed, and rational. He had made what is called a Saint-Monday of yesterday se’nnight, And then he fell in with a cobbler of the name Truelock, who either is, or effects to be touched with a religious phrenzy. It is clear from all the evidence, that this man filled the brain of Mr. Hadfield with some incoherent and frantic superstitions, which were either artfully designed to lead him to the perpetration of the diabolical crime, or were the effusions of a confirmed lunatic. He told him of a divine Commission which he had to perform for the good of mankind - that he was appointed to purify the earth - that truth he was God, and that he wanted a second God to assist in his work, that he would appoint Hadfield to be his Son. This Truelock, when examined, talked in the same way, and Mr. Ford has not yet been able to ascertain rather his seeming insanity is affected or real. After this interview on Monday the 12th inst. Hadfield appeared to his comrades, and to all about him, to be usually thoughtful, and even gloomy. His attention was distracted, and some mysterious words which fell from him at intervals, then disregarded by those about him, are now remember such as, ” that great changes would soon be brought about: that there was great work to be done.” And on the very day when the accident took place in Hyde Park, he exclaimed, as if brooding over his design, ” They will say it was I who did it.” On the whole of the Thursday he showed no particular signs of derangement; neither where he was shaved, where he bought the gunpowder, not at the public house where he drunk a single pint of beer, did he show any mark of insanity. In the seat which he chose in the pit, it is remarkable, that though at considerable distance from the Royal Box, it was the only point from which you could take a clear aim. From the elevation of the box, if he had gone nearer, he must have lost the view of his object. It is clear that he must have taken his stand at the door of the pit early in the afternoon, to be among the foremost and entering the Theatre, that he might thus chus his seat; and that he took aim and discharged his pistol at the Royal Person, six or seven concurring testimonies served to prove.

Obverse:

This example employs the obverse die described by Pollard (1970) as the Type 2 Bust. George III’s draped bust is depicted facing left. A somewhat flowing piece of fabric is presumably wrapped around the King’s shoulders and secured by a brooch with five somewhat irregularly shaped jewels. The edge of the fabric protrudes above the clasp and falls over the front of his left shoulder before disappearing under the truncation. The entire edge of which is frayed. The fabric upon his chest flows down in a series of unevenly distributed waves. His left shoulder protrudes from under the fabric. Three medium-sized dots can be found in the immediate underfold of the shoulder. His hair is tightly pulled into a single thick strand tied behind his head with a ribbon wrapped around the strand and secured by a knot with one bow and a single loose end. The loose end wraps around and under the hair and protrudes over his left shoulder just above the fabric secured by the brooch. Almost immediately below the knot, the hair forms several strands of large curls. One rests on his right shoulder while the others fall behind his back and nearly touch his left shoulder. The lowest curl nearly touches the last letter of the legend. Two rows of tightly looped curls appear just above his ear, the lowest of which conceals all but his earlobe. The engraver's initials, "C · H · K .” appear immediately below and centered under the bust. The obverse legend encircles the entire obverse except for immediately below the bust and is closely in line with the inner rim. It reads “GEORGIUS III · D : G · BRITANNIARUM REX · FIDEI DEF · & C · ”. All of this is contained within a slightly raised inner rim, which is superseded by a substantially wider rim of greater relief.

Reverse:

The legend, "PERSPICIT ET PROTEGIT. " appears at the very top. In the upper center is an outward-looking eye contained with a triangle. The triangle is made of multiple straight lines or rays of varying width that protrude outward in all angles. Several of which divide "ET" from the surrounding letters in the legend. The rays intersect and often penetrate curled clouds of smoke that appear on either side of an open flame, which rests upon an alter at the center of the medal. The front panel is marked with the letters "D. O. " evenly spaced above "M." . The alter rests upon a background of land, with a small tuft of grass appearing in the middle of the alter. The engraver's initial "K" appears on the right side of the foreground. In exergue, the legend "A SICARIO SERVATUS MAI · XV . MDCCC. " is divided into two lines. Like the obverse, all of this is contained within a slightly raised inner rim, superseded by a substantially wider rim of greater relief.
Edge: Plain

Size: 48mm

Notes:

I bought this piece already graded, and the slab looks like it took several world tours. That said, the starches that you see in the picture are on the holder. The medal itself is problem-free and very deserving of the lofty MS-66 BN grade NGC assigned it. Alongside its equally graded counterpart in this collection, there is no doubt that these two are at the very precipice of the best-preserved specimens of the 271 produced (Tungate, 2020).

References:

Pollard, J. G. (1970). Matthew Boulton and Conrad Heinrich Küchler. The Numismatic Chronicle, 10, 259-318.

Tungate, S. (2020) Matthew Boulton and The Soho Mint: copper to customer. Worcestershire: Brewin Books.