| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_888-3_AR |
| Subject | : | University of Bombay - Lady Reay Medal |
| Size | : | 49 mm |
| Metal | : | Silver |
| Year | : | 1888 |
| Description | : | obv. Bust of Lady Reay, left, around border : FANNY GEORGIANA JANE REAY. Signed : PINCHES LONDON, rev. Within a laurel wreath : TO THE BEST / FEMALE STUDENT / AT THE / L.M. & S. EXAMINATION / BOMBAY / THE LADY REAY MEDAL / FOUNDED / MDCCCLXXXVIII (1888).
Awarded medals suspended from a claw and bar for wearing and in a case. Silver medal noted awarded to : MEHERBAI ARDESHIR POSTWALA M.B.B.S. 1919. Note that Miss Postwala won this medal and the Queen Empress Medal in the same year. The latest silver medal noted was awarded to PRABHAVATI MANILAL NANAVATI M.B.B.S. 1940.
Baron and Lady Reay presided over Bombay from 1885 to 1890. As Governor, he is well-remembered, as is she for her many good works. This medal, ‘The Lady Reay Gold Medal’, was offered to the University by Harkisandas Narotamdas, in 1888, in honour of Lady Ready, to be given to the female candidate in medical school who passed with the highest marks.
As usually happened, the interest from the endowment eventually became insufficient to cover the cost of gold and silver gilt or silver was substituted. The medal is known in copper usually unawarded and unsuspended although the British Museum has one holed and fitted with a ring. The medal is a handsome one with an attractive bust of Lady Reay. The dies were made by Pinches in London and perhaps the initial supply was struck in the Pinches workshop. Bombay Mint records indicate that the medal was struck and cased at the Bombay Mint (the silver version to weight 80 grams) but no dates for its production are given. |
