Victoria, 1837-1901. Silver Medal 1839, 77.92 g. Duke of Wellington, Warden of the Cinque Ports. By B. Wyon. Bust, bare. WELLINGTON. Rv. View of Dover castle. In exergue: IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CINQUE PORTS BANQUET TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON DOVER 1839. Plain edge. 55.7 mm. Eimer 1328. BHM 1889. Vorzüglich / Extremely Fine. Feine Patina / Nicely toned. Feine Kratzer / Minor hairlines.

Purchased from Spink, London, June 2002, lot CM43.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 - 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, twice serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore Wars when Tipu Sultan was killed in the fourth war in 1799, and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The Cinque Ports are a group of towns situated in Sussex and Kent. They comprise Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich, Winchelsea and Rye. In mediaeval times, there was no standing navy in Britain and the King relied on other bodies such as the sea-board towns to supply an agreed quota of ships in times of necessity.

By a charter of Edward I, the Cinque Ports were granted certain privileges in the matter of civil and criminal jurisdiction within their boundaries and exemption from all taxes, aids and tollages. In return for these and other concessions, the ports were required to supply the King, upon request, with fifty-seven ships for fifteen days each year. The officer commanding these ships was the Warden. The charters of the Cinque Ports were surrendered to the crown in 1685 and most of their privileges and obligations were abolished by the Reform Act of 1832 and the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.