Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment----------Duke of Gloucester

Sentimental token: Duke of Glocester (sic) 1773, by John Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm. I will be posting 12 of the medals, I still need one to complete the set.

Some Selected Reports from the Bath Journal Monday, March 29th, 1773 :
The Sentimental Magazine

A NEW MAGAZINE, With every Number of which will be given a curious MEDAL, struck on fine Metal, about the Size and Weight of a Guinea, executed by Mr. KIRKE, who is universally esteemed the First Artist in London in his Profession. This Medal will of itself, exclusive of the Magazine, be Worth at least Half-a-Crown; it will represent some reigning Toast, some Great Personage, some Hero celebrated in the Annals of our own Kingdom, or in those of the Continent, some Patriot, or some uncommon literary Genius.
On Thursday the First of April will be Published, Price Six-Pence, In which will be given an elegant Medal of his Majesty George III. the Dye of which is executed by Mr. Kirke, and esteemed a most Striking Likeness; and also embellished with Copper-Plates, designed and engraved by the best Masters NUMBER I. [to be continued Monthly] of The SENTIMENTAL MAGAZINE Or, GENERAL ASSEMBLAGE of SCIENCE, TASTE and ENTERTAINMENT.
Calculated to amuse the Mind, to improve the Understanding, and to amend the Heart. London: Printed for the Authors, and sold by G. KEARSLEY, removed from Ludgate-street to No. 46 in Fleet-street, and by all other Booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland. *** The MEDAL to be given with each Number will be sealed up in a Kind of silky Paper, provided for that Purpose, to prevent any Injury to the fine Impression of the Dye; and it will be so affixed to the Magazine, as to render it portable with it without any Inconvenience. Those Persons who are desirous of having any of the Medals given in the Course of this Work, struck in Gold, Silver, &c. may, by applying to the Publisher, be supplied with them on the most reasonable Terms.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment ---------------Silvered example of The Duke of Glocester

-------Lord Chatham (William Pitt) Bronze 26mm.

I should touch on relative values attached to these medals. They are affected by the same as most coins and medals, condition rarity etc, but they are affected within the set by: American interest in William Pitt and a couple of other tokens. The relative fame of the people now, either side of the Atlantic. Some have remained prominent characters, others have declined in peoples interest.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Sentimental token:
MARQUIS OF GRANBY 1774, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.
General John Manners, Marquess of Granby PC, (Kelham, 2 January 1721 – October 18, 1770, Scarborough), British soldier, was the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland. As he did not outlive his father, he was known by his father's subsidiary title, Marquess of Granby.

Minden was Granby's first great battle. At the head of the Blues he was one of the cavalry leaders halted at the critical moment by Lieutenant-General Sackville, and when in consequence that officer was sent home in disgrace, Granby succeeded to the command of the British contingent in Ferdinand's army, having 32,000 men under his orders at the beginning of 1760. He also replaced Sackville as Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. During Sackville's court-martial, Granby testified that Sackville had led the cavalry forward too slowly. Although he suggested Sackville had not been negligent, he could not prevent a verdict of "guilty", and Sackville was thereafter embittered against him.

In the remaining campaigns of the Seven Years' War the English contingent was more conspicuous by its conduct than the Prussians themselves. On July 31, 1760 Granby brilliantly stormed Warburg at the head of the British cavalry, capturing 1500 men and ten pieces of artillery. Since his twenties, he had been almost entirely bald, but disdained to wear a wig; during the charge, he lost his hat, giving rise to the expression "going at it bald-headed". A year later (July 15, 1761) the British defended the heights of Villinghausen with what Ferdinand himself styled "indescribable bravery". On the following day, he led his troops in a counter-attack and helped drive the French from the field. His opponent, the duc de Broglie, was so impressed that he commissioned a portrait of Granby by Sir Joshua Reynolds. In the last campaign, at Gravenstein and Wilhelmsthal, Homberg, Gudensberg and Cassel, Granby's men bore the brunt of the fighting and earned the greatest share of the glory. Lord Ligonier praised his conduct at Wilhelmsthal, where he cut off the French rearguard as "Il a manoeuvré comme un ange … no man ever acted with more courage or more like a commanding officer." His last field action was at Brückermühl, where he brought two brigades to the relief of General Zastrow.



Sentimental token: Oliver Cromwell 1658, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

Sentimental token:
JOHN WILKES ESQUIRE MEMBER FOR MIDDLESEX 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.
Outspoken 18th-century journalist and popular London politician who came to be regarded as a victim of persecution and as a champion of liberty because he was repeatedly expelled from Parliament. His widespread popular support may have been the beginning of English Radicalism. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives. In 1771 he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates. In 1776 he introduced the first Bill for parliamentary reform in the British Parliament.

The Dutch politician Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol (1741–1784), who advocated the American Revolution and criticized the Stadtholder regime, was inspired by Wilkes.

British subjects in the American colonies closely followed Wilkes's career. His struggles convinced many colonists that the British constitution was being subverted by a corrupt ministry, an idea that contributed to the coming of the American Revolution. After the Revolution, James Madison explicitly acted on his story when writing measures into the American constitution that prevented Congress from rejecting any legally elected member and proscribing general warrants for arrest.



Sentimental token:
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM BECKFORD ND. Circa 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

In March 1770 following the release of John Wilkes, of whom Beckford had been an ardent supporter, Beckford decorated his house with a large banner, which according to Horace Walpole bore the word Liberty written in three foot high embroidered white letters. A few weeks later, on 23 May, Beckford publicly admonished George III. Breaking contemporary protocol he asked the King to dissolve Parliament and to remove his civil councillors. King George was reportedly more enraged by the breach of protocol than by the nature of the request, yet it attracted the support of the Common Councilmen of London who expressed their gratitude by erecting a statue of Beckford, mounting it on a block of stone on which the words Beckford had used to admonish the king were engraved in gold.

Sentimental token: DAVID GARRICK 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Gilded Bronze 26mm.


Sentimental token:
QUEEN CHARLOTTE 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

Sentimental token:
DUCHESS OF GLOCESTER 1774, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

Maria Walpole (1736-1807) alias Clements, Duchess of Gloucester, Countess Waldegrave, Duchess of Edinburgh Died: 2nd August 1807 at Oxford Lodge, Brompton, Middlesex . Maria was one of the three illegitimate daughters of Hon. Edward Walpole. She secretly married the king's brother the Duke of Gloucester and after they announced their marriage they were exiled from court. Though she was now a "Princess of Great Britain & Ireland" she never was received at court.


Click to view attachment This is how I found her on Ebay, in a lot of unknowns, at least she is back where she belongs, among friends.



Sentimental token:
LORD CAMDEN 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

Ist Earl Camden (Charles Pratt) On 17 July 1765 Pratt was created Baron Camden, of Camden Place, in the county of Kent, becoming a member of the House of Lords. Prime Minister Lord Rockingham had unsuccessfully made this, and other appointments, to curry favour with Pitt but Camden was not over-earger to get involved in the crisis surrounding the Stamp Act 1765. Camden did attend the Common on 14 January 1766 and his subsequent speeches on the matter in the Lords are so similar to Pitt's that he had clearly adopted the party line. He was one of only five Lords who voted against a resoluton of the House insisting on parliament's right to tax colonies overseas. Camden insisted that taxation was predicated on consent and that consent needed representation. Pratt lost his patron when Pitt left office iin October 1761 but in January 1762, he resigned from the Commons, was raised to the bench as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, received the customary knighthood and was sworn into the Privy Council.

The Common Pleas was not an obvious forum for a jurist with constitutional interest, dealing as it did principally with disputes between private parties. However, on 30 April 1763, Member of Parliament John Wilkes was arrested under a general warrant for alleged seditious libel in issue No.45 of The North Briton. Pratt freed Wilkes holding that parliamentary privilege gave him immunity from arrest on such a charge. The decision earned Pratt some favour with the radical faction in London and seems to have spurred him, over the summer of that year to encourage juries to award disproportionate and excessive damages to printers unlawfully arrested over the same matter. Wilkes was awarded £1,000 (£127,000 at 2003 prices and Pratt condemned the use of general warrants for entry and search. Pratt pronounced with decisive and almost passionate energy against their legality, thus giving voice to the strong feeling of the nation and winning for himself an extraordinary degree of popularity as one of the maintainers of English civil liberties.

Sentimental Token: This is the first of a set of 13 by Kirk given as a gift each month to purchasers of The Sentimental Magazine. George III King of Great Britain ETc. Bronze 26mm





This was the first Sentimental token I purchased, both the seller and I had no idea what it was: GEORGE THE SECOND. Circa 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm. This one, the Duchess of Cumberland and the William Beckford are the only three that are undated (I have no idea why, any suggestions?). The Cromwell is dated 1658, the year of his death. This perhaps makes these slightly harder to identify as Sentimental tokens. The set as a whole is, I believe, less well known than it deserves, as is John Kirk the medallist. I hope this thread brings these wonderful tokens to a wider audience as they are fine early examples of the art of medal making and historic in their own right.



I just need the Duchess of Cumberland to complete this set. I have seen two examples, but they were in so poor a condition, I would rather have a space than a poor filler. I will try to upgrade this last one, George II, as well.

Bravo!

DUCHESS of CUMBERLAND ND. Circa 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.

Well here she is, the last one to complete the set. I assume that her husband, the Duke would have been in the set if it had not ended.

It seems that whoever was selecting the subjects for the tokens to be given away with the magazine had liberal if not radical tendencies:

Apart from George II, George III, Queen Charlotte, David Garrick the actor and the Marquis of Grandby, the others, including the Duke and Duchess of Gloster(sic), and the Duchess of Cumberland were not in favour with the Court and Establishment.

When Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, brother of George III annouced his marriage in 1771 to a Mrs Horton George III promptly banished him from Court and, determined to uphold the dignity of the Crown, had the Royal Marriage Act passed in March 1772. Unfortunately this meant that the Duke of Gloucester, another brother of the King and Cumberland, who had himself married, without the King's knowledge or approval years earlier, but had kept it secret, felt honour bound to annouce it publicly and was also banished from Court. Therefore when these medals were struck they may have been popular with the common people but they were outside of the estalishment.
,
Oliver Cromwell had a hand in the execution of a British Monarchy. John Wilkes was seen as a radical, he had the support of William Beckford, Lord Camden had found for Wilkes against the Crown. Even Pitt, Lord Chatham, was a supporter of the Americans and favoured Wilkes views on no taxes without representation.

I have also managed to find a nicer example of George II



Sentimental token: GEORGE THE SECOND ND. Circa 1773, by Kirk for The Sentimental Magazine. 1 of a set of 13 Bronze 26mm.


I am pleased to have completed the set, but if anyone has a gold or silver one, as mentioned in the Bath Journal 1773 "Those Persons who are desirous of having any of the Medals given in the Course of this Work, struck in Gold, Silver, &c. may, by applying to the Publisher, be supplied with them on the most reasonable Terms"


None have ever been recorded, but we live in hope.

Congratulations on completing such a fine looking set.

Congratulations.

Wonderful set! Congrats on completing it.