Description

Edward VII. 1901-1910. Gold Medal n. d. (awarded 1923), 193.14 g. Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Livingstone Medal. By J. MacGillivray. Bust three-quarters, draped and wearing a cap. DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Rv. Winged figure of Peace, bearing a torch, flying over a ship and landscape. FIAT LUX. Edge engraving: FIELD MARSHAL THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT ALLENBY . IN RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES TO THE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE NEAR EAST 1926. 63.6 mm. Eimer 1627. BHM 3387. Selten / Rare. Vorzüglich / Extremely Fine.

From the auction Spink 9008, London, March 2009, lot 134.

The Royal Scottish Geographical Society is an educational organisation based in Perth, Scotland, which was founded in 1884. The aim of the Society is to promote the subject of geography worldwide, to inspire people to learn more about the world around them and to provide a source of reliable and impartial geographical information.

The medal depicts David Livingstone (19 March 1813 - 1 May 1873), a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneering Christian missionary of the London Missionary Society and explorer in Africa. Livingstone achieved a mythical status, operating on several interrelated levels: martyr of the Protestant mission, inspirational story of a labourer who went from rags to riches, scientific explorer and discoverer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader and champion of British commercial and colonial expansion. As a result, Livingstone became one of the most popular British heroes of the Victorian era of the late 19th century.

This medal was awarded to Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 - 14 May 1936) who was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in World War I, in which he led the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the conquest of Palestine in 1918.