New Lion from Ireland with a Piece of history.

theboz11

1892 ULSTER UNIONIST DELEGATES Medal

GOLD Gilt
21.6 grms 38.3 mm
ULTRA RARE

As most people know the home rule bill which was responsible for the formation of the Ulster volunteer Force took three readings to pass parliament, the first being 1892, the second 1893 and the third 1912. This is a delegates medal from 1892 when the initial attempts at passing the bill were defeated by the conservative/unionist alliance.

They were more reluctant than they had been in the past, but the Conservatives had more Unionist support than ever before. When the Bill was discussed, the Conservatives fiercely campaigned to have the Unionist north east of Ireland treated separately from the rest of the island. They argued that the Protestants of Ulster constituted a separate Irish nation. They hoped this argument would stop Home Rule being introduced, since it would, they believed, result in a volatile Ireland containing two national identities. The two prime Unionist speakers were Sir Edward Carson (leader of the Unionists) and Sir James Craig.

In Belfast, tensions were so high over the Bill that spontaneous rioting kept breaking out between the Catholic and Protestant residents of the City. On 28 September 1912, Craig introduced the 'Ulster Covenant', which people could sign to pledge their determination to defeat the Third Home Rule Bill. It was a huge success and 450,000 Irish people signed it, some in their own blood. The week came to a climax on 28 September 1912, which was known as Ulster Day. The whole event was remarkably peaceful, considering the tension, and received huge publicity in Britain.

As the Bill was discussed, one proposition put forward was that the 4 counties with a Unionist majority (Antrim, Down, Londonderry and Armagh) could be left out of the Home Rule scheme. This was proposed as a compromise, since both sides were threatening to use force if the other got their way. At first the Unionists were horrified, since it made Home Rule much more likely, but they quickly resigned themselves to the idea. Many of them decided they would need a back up military force as 'insurance' to make certain that at least Ulster was left out of Home Rule. So in January 1913, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was set up. Thousands of Unionists joined, and they met in Orange Halls around Ulster. The only thing missing was weapons. On 24/25 April 1914, 25,000 rifles and 3,000,000 bullets were illegally landed by the UVF at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee, all near Belfast. Since the police in these areas did not try to stop the landings, the Nationalists felt that the police were in league with the UVF.

36TH ULSTER DIVISION, WW1, SOMME, ORANGE-ORDER ORANGE, LODGE, U.V.F, PROTESTANT.

newbiecollector

That is another beautiful medal Boz. You have such a great collection!!!

theboz11

Thank you Wayne, It's easy to do with lions as the topic.

newbiecollector

<< <i>Thank you Wayne, It's easy to do with lions as the topic. >>



Not if you are broke as I am

AuldFartte

Wonderful piece of history, and that medal is just gorgeous!

FilamCoins

Very cool!

What got you interested in Lions in the first place??

JCMhouston

Even ignoring the history that is really a nice design.

theboz11

<< <i>Very cool!

What got you interested in Lions in the first place?? >>



In the 80's I did a lot of shows and one of my travel mates was a world coin dealer by the name of David Gotkin. He still does shows though I stopped years ago. I bought this coin ,Yeman lion, from him as the first , and continued as the field became obviously large and varied in beauty. When I came over to the Darkside I was theme collecting before getting heavily into medals. I love the beauty and rarity of these medals over just the fine art medals. I statrted with the coins with lions on them until I ran out of the quality pieces that I wanted and moved to Medals with lions.

Yeman Lions 1969:

Danegeld

Wonderful piece. Thanks for sharing.

Ben

BCNumismatics

Theboz11,
Being a Protestant,& a Unionist sympathiser,I reckon that is one of the nicest Ulster Unionist medals that I have seen.Ulster Unionism started off as being a branch of Irish Unionism,but only became really distinctive in 1905.

Well done on the great piece of exonumia from Ulster.

Aidan.

theboz11

I would guess that owning a medal like this could have been hazardous to ones health if found in ones pocket in the wrong area of town

oldshep

Such a beautiful medal!!! The Yemen lion is one I have wanted since I saw it as an avitar for cosmicdebris - I never see one come up but maybe some day.

I have been aquiring a group of beautiful ship medals 70mm and 80mm in size and am having a heck of a time getting good photos - tell me please - what lighting do you use?
Your pictures are always great!

Shep

theboz11

Shep, The medal was shot on top of my Black top ceramic stove with a GE HELICAL 10 Watt bulb in the fan hood(White) at 10 o'clock high and 10 o'clock on the medal at a distance of 27 inches. Provides satisfactory diffusion. My camera does not have a light meter, so I set it to Florescent light. I generally have to set the brightness and contrast to taste on my Photo editor.

That Helical gives a very nice white light.

SaorAlba

Lovely medal, thanks for sharing.

spoon

Really awesome medal!

theboz11

Thanks