| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_891-5_AE |
| Subject | : | Asiatic Society of Bengal - Barclay Medal |
| Size | : | 77 mm |
| Metal | : | Copper |
| Year | : | 1891 |
| Description | : | obv. Bust of Arthur Barelay, right. Signed : DE VIGNE-HART, rev : Inside a very ornamental border : BORN / AUG. 3RD, 1852, / ARTHUR BARCLAY / DIED / AUG. 2nd, 1891.
De Vigne-Hart was a Brussels medal-publisher whose name appears on very few medals. Sir Albert Howard was appointed Economic Botanist to the government of India in 1905 and in 1924 served as director of the Institute of Plant Industry in Indore as well as acting as agricultural advisor to the princely states in Central India and Rajputana. In 1929 he published The Application of Science to Crop Production and won this award. The Barclay Memorial Fund awarded this medal until 9 December 1895 when Surgeon Major Gerald Bomford, representing the Barclay Memorial Fund offered to make over to the Asiatic Society a die and a sum of money to create an endowment for the award of a medal and suggested the medal should be awarded for scientific researches in India. This medal was awarded 24 times before the end of the Raj.
Arthur Barclay completed his medical training at Glassgow and Warburg universities, entering the Indian Medical Service as a surgeon and was assigned to Jessore as the Civil Surgeon. He rose to become a Professor of Physiology at the Calcutta Medical College and at the age of 31 was appointed Secretary to the Surgeon Major, Government of India. While retaining this position he also served as secretary of the Leprosy Commission, until his death one day before his fortieth birthday.
Awarded 24 times by the Asiatic Society, the first award in 1901. Between 1891 and 1895 this medal was awarded by the Barclay Memorial Fund, but the number of awards could not be traced. |
