| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_859-1 AE |
| Subject | : | Punjab Department of Public Instruction - Arnold Medal |
| Size | : | 42 mm |
| Metal | : | Copper |
| Year | : | 1859 |
| Description | : | obv. Bust, quarter left, around border : WILLIAM DELAFIELD ARNOLD : BORN 1828: DIED 1859. Signed : J.S. WYON SC rev. Within wreath : IN / MEMORY OF / W.D. ARNOND / FIRST DIRECTOR / OF THE / DEPARTMENT / 1855, around border : DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION PANJAB . PRIZE MEDAL .
Calcutta Mint records state the gold medal is smaller than the silver but no size is given. Based on similar medals in the same time period the size 38 mm is suggested but not confirmed.
The Department of Public Instruction resulted from a famous dispatch, in 1854, by Sir Charles Wood concerning a complete revamping of the educational system throughout India. William Delafield Arnold, as the Director of Public Instruction, was the second-ranking official in the Department of Education and was responsible for all educational institutions at all levels in the Punjab. He had gone out to India as an Ensign in the Company’s infantry, then became an assistant commissioner in the Punjab followed by the educational Directorship during which he did exceptional work organizing the new department. He died in 1859 at the age of 31 at Gibralter on the way home on leave. His father was the famous Dr Arnold of Rugby and his brother Matthew Arnold, the writer, who wrote A Summer Night in memory of him. |
