Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Miss Lillian Barclay, 17 May 1882) lacking buckle, very fine
£100-140

Miss Lillian Barclay, an 11 year old schoolgirl, saved the life of her father in Cadoway Creek, Demerara, British Guiana, on 17 May, 1882. Mr. Barclay, with his two daughters and another lady, were proceeding up a tortuous creek in a corial when the boat came in collision with an overhanging trunk of a tree and capsized. The girls clung to the tree but the father remained in the boat which sank under him. He was unable to swim. Miss Lillian swam to her father’s assistance and succeeded in getting him to the bank. Ref. R.H.S. Case No. 21753.