| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_902-2_AE |
| Subject | : | Northcote - Bhavnagar Education Medal |
| Size | : | 45 mm |
| Metal | : | Copper |
| Description | : | obv. Bust of Lord Northcote, right, around border : IN HONOUR OF LORD NORTHCOTE GOVERNOR OF BOMBAY. Signed : A. WYON SC, rev. Around border : HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL AWARD OF THE YEAR - FOUNDED IN 1902 * BHAVNAGAR * Within a laurel wreath in centre : BY / HIS HIGHNESS / BHAVSINHJI.
It is believed this medal was awarded in gold or silver but an example has not been traced. Equivalent medals particularly at Rajkumar College in Rajkot, Bhavnagar, were in gold and it is not believed that Maharaja Bhavsinhji would lend his name to less than gold particularly in honour of Lord Northcote. The Ashmolean Museum has a copper example.
Bhavnagar was a small state on the Kathiawar Peninsula in the Eastern Kathiawar and Sabar Kantha Agency with a very progressive ruler, very pro British. Henry Stafford Northcote was Governor of Bombay from 1899 to 1903 and Governor-General of Australia afterward. His tenure in Bombay was marked by famine and plague but he was a strong supporter of education and this was greatly admired by the rulers of the Kathiawar states particularly Maharaja Bhavsinhji. |
