| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_855-2_AE |
| Subject | : | Madras Exhibition - Victoria - For Merit |
| Size | : | 51.5 mm |
| Metal | : | Copper |
| Year | : | 1855 |
| Description | : | obv. Head of Queen Victoria, left, around border : VICTORIA REGINA (Victoria, Queen). Signed : B. WYON SC., rev : At top MADRAS EXHIBITION. Within wreath : FOR MERIT.
The only silver specimen noted was awarded in 1874.Little is remembered about the winner of the bronze merit medal today, but William Cullen was a fixture in south India for many years, and renowned for his interest and encouragement of science. He arrived in India in the service of the East India Company in 1804 and remained in India for 58 years without once returning to England. He distinguished himself against the Marathas but it was in the administrative and political departments that he was chiefly employed. He became Military Auditor-General and then Commissary-General leading to his appointment in 1840 as Resident at the courts of the Rajahs of Travancore and Cochin, which appointment he held for twenty years until retirement. He retired in Allepey in Travancore where his scientific investigations made him very popular with the local population. He left large and valuable collections when he died at 77 years of age and a scholarship was founded at the University of Madras. The Cullen Scholarship, endowed by the Rajah of Travancore and others, with the full approval of the British government, as they felt that no higher tribute could be offered to General Cullen than to associate his name with the education of the natives of India. |
