Royal Dublin Society, a silver award medal by W. Woodhouse, Minerva seated left, high legend, rev. farm animals, exergue engraved (Spring Cattle Show, 1849), edge named (Hugh Barton Esqr, Best fat Plough Bullock), 51mm (Went 10; Frazer p.617). Light scuffing, otherwise very fine or better, obverse toned, rare £120-150

Provenance: Barton Family Collection, Spink Auction 16, 9-10 July 1981, lot 434 (part); J. Spencer Collection, DNW Auction M5, 17 December 2007, lot 1091 [from C. Dennett].

Hugh Barton (1766-1854), from Limerick, was a notable figure in the Bordeaux wine trade before the French Revolution, having in 1786 taken over the interests of his grandfather, Thomas Barton, who had first arrived in Bordeaux in 1725. In 1794 Barton was one of the foreign merchants arrested in Bordeaux. Confined to the Fort du Ha prison, he contrived to make his escape to Ireland with the help of his wife Anne, herself the naturalized daughter of a French subject of Scottish descent. With his partner, Daniel Guestier, he founded Barton & Guestier, one of the region’s best known merchants, in 1802. Fleeing to Ireland during the Napoleonic era and leaving Guestier in charge, Barton returned and purchased Château Pontet-Langlois in 1821, renaming it Château Langoa-Barton. He subsequently bought a third portion of the great Léoville estate, renaming that Château Léoville-Barton. The châteaux and vineyards have been in the hands of the family ever since. Hugh Barton had Straffan House in co Kildare built as the Barton family Irish seat between 1828 and 1831