Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An attractive and impressively large Fenian-Era Presentation Medal awarded to James Varley, relating to the Struggle for Irish Independence
A high-quality, pleasantly toned Presentation Medal, 65mm, silver, the obverse featuring a Strung Hibernian Harp within two shamrock stems, the reverse engraved ‘Presented to James Varley, by the Irishmen of Leeds, as a slight token of their esteem and respect for him as an Englishman who has labored zealously for Irelands Independence July 9, 1867.’ within an oak and laurel wreath, with swivelling scroll suspension, and housed in contemporary fitted case of issue, extremely fine £400-£500

Provenance: American Numismatic Society Collection 2006.

Presentation medals in silver were commissioned by retail jewellers during the Victorian period, normally using a stock design that was die-struck and would then be customised for specific events, most frequently as sporting, acknowledgement of services, academic or similar awards. This specific design was clearly targeted at awards connected to Ireland, with two commonly accepted symbolic apotheosis of Ireland on the obverse and strong overtones of classical style throughout. It would have cost around five guineas wholesale and perhaps double this amount when fully engraved and cased by a retailer.

Twenty years after the height of emigration from Ireland following the Great Famine, an estimated 30,000 first generation Irish immigrants lived in Leeds in 1867, and even greater numbers were found close by, in Manchester and Liverpool. They were overwhelmingly working-class labourers or factory workers, but many were merchants. Although English society was generally contemptuous and fearful of poor Irish immigrants, a minority, often on the fringes of English life, believed that the Irish were unfairly oppressed and exploited. Some of these few Englishmen were lawyers, who defended Irishmen accused of political crimes, or people who gave time and money to aid various Irish causes. These sympathisers often had past connections to Chartism, Franchise Reform or other radical political causes. Both Marx and Engels (whose life-long Irish partner Mary Burns had recently died, aged 41) were active in England at this time. Varley is a common surname in the Manchester-Leeds area, and genealogical studies suggest that it originated in this area.

The aim of an Independent Ireland was pursued by a wide range of organisations, some using constitutional means, others eager to use force. Extremist organisations such as the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.), founded in 1858, hoped to avoid attention from the authorities by using Irish social or cultural causes or celebrations as cover. The date on which the medal was presented to James Varley, Tuesday 9 July 1867, is strongly suggestive of a link with Fenian plans for the uprisings that had taken place earlier in 1867.

The Fenians were a transatlantic organisation linked to the I.R.B. and dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic by armed rebellion, specifically by recruiting Irishmen who had fought in the American Civil War. They collected about 6,000 firearms, mostly in the United States of America, and reckoned that 50,000 men were ready to fight. Some were sent on raids into Canada, others to Ireland or England to plan and lead uprisings. An ex-Captain of the 10th Ohio Infantry, Thomas J. Kelly, became Deputy Central Organiser of the Irish Republic. He launched an insurrection in Ireland in February and March 1867, proclaiming a Provisional Republican Government. Due to a lack of arms and organisation, the Rising failed. The Fenian organisation was riddled with informers, and as a result mass arrests were made across Ireland and the main industrial cities of England. Kelly himself was amongst those seized, and later in the year an attempt was made to free him while he was being transported in a secure wagon to prison in Manchester. A policeman was shot dead, and three Fenians were hanged for his murder. The Irishmen of Leeds called for a rally on 15 December 1867 to protest the execution of the three “Manchester Martyrs”. The city authorities banned it and deployed the entire military garrison of Leeds plus a huge force of armed police and special constables to ensure that it did not go ahead.

Both the Irish and the British authorities put much effort into penetrating Fenian Circles. The Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) based some of its officers in British industrial cities such as Leeds to keep tabs on the Irish immigrant communities, and to liaise with local British police forces and with the Home Office. The R.I.C. preferred to use paid informers in Ireland and Britain rather than mount surveillance operations to gather intelligence. Their informer reports, together with those made to the Leeds Watch Committee and the Home Office, may shed more light on James Varley, and local newspapers such as the Leeds Express and the Leeds Mercury may contain accounts of the occasion on which this medal was presented to him.

Certainly, the dedication itself (“who has labored zealously”) suggests that Varley’s contribution to the Cause went beyond financial donations. Various discoveries by the police show that the Fenians had amassed a limited but interesting assortment of munitions to be used during their Uprising, including highly volatile manufactured solutions of phosphorous in bisulphide of carbon and sticks of pure phosphorous. Although no firm connection has so far been proven, at this time a James Varley operated a retail chemist shop and pharmacy in Manchester. The Irishmen arrested in possession of these incendiary chemicals were acquitted by the jury who heard the case, but the police consoled themselves by selling the impounded phosphorous back to the manufacturer for £18!