FROM ITS FOUNDATION in 1824, until the reign of George V, the Institution's medals were designed by officials of the Royal Mint. By courtesy of the Deputy Master, I am able to illustrate photographs of the original dies (Figs. 1 and 2), specially taken by Mr Mozley of the Mint at the request of the Librarian and Curator. They are Crown copyright, and appear by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Also included are examples in white metal (Figs. 3 and 4).

The die bears the name of the designer on the obverse. He was William Wyon (1795-1851) Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint. Wyon was the most celebrated of a dynasty of engravers who first came to this country in the train of the Hanoverian kings. Wyon designed the reverse, which is in use today, from a sketch by Henry Howard R.A. (1769-1847), Secretary and later Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy. Legend has it that one of the figures on the left of the reverse was drawn from Wyon himself. Although the fact might have been apparent in the original sketch, the smaller scale of the die robs it of much significance.

The wording on the obverse runs: 'Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. George the Fourth, Patron, 1824'. The motto on the reverse: 'Let not the deep swallow me up' is adapted from the Authorised Version of the Bible: Psalm 69, verse 15: 'Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither the deep swallow me up'.

The first medal, struck in gold and silver, was in use until 1862, when Leonard Charles Wyon (1826-1891), William Wyon's son, who was a modeller and engraver at the Royal Mint, executed a new design for the obverse. This showed a graceful image of Queen Victoria (Figs. 5 and 6). The change commemorated the Charter which the Queen had granted to the Institution in 1860.

This second medal remained in use throughout the rest of the Queen's reign, and the wording on the obverse indicated the change in the Institution's title to: 'Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Incorporated 1860. Victoria Patroness'. The designer's name appeared below the Queen's neck.

The last and least successful medal to come via the Royal Mint was designed in 1902 by G. W. de Saulles, who had been appointed engraver in 1893. His obverse showed Edward VII as Patron (Fig. 7).

The original William Wyon reverse was discarded in favour of an entirely new design (Fig. 8), showing, in the words of the official description: 'The figure of Hope assisting a Coxswain-Superintendent of a Lifeboat to buckle on his life-belt, and wishing him and his crew "God speed", with the lifeboat manned in the distance ready to launch, and awaiting the instructions of the Coxswain- Superintendent.' The Edward VII medal was current for a comparatively short time. In 1912 a head of George V by Sir Bertram MacKennel was substituted on the obverse for that of Edward VII, and it was the last in the series to show the sovereign's head. William Wyon's reverse was restored, and the only subsequent change in the medal has been the appearance, on the obverse, of the head of Sir William Hillary (1777-1847), Institution's founder.. The head was designed by the Reverend A. G. Wyon (1882-1962), a distant relative of the great William Wyon, and an artist of distinction in his own right. The reason for the change, which may well be permanent, arose from a ruling by George VI, shortly after his accession, that he wished his effigy to appear only on medals for which he had given his sanction as sovereign.

Since 1857 the medal has been supported by two dolphins, their heads facing, and it is attached to the Garter blue ribbon by means of a ball device. The dolphins are well shown in Figs, 7 and 8, Since 1917 the medal Bias, been awarded in bronze,, in addition to the awards in gold and silver.