Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, Gloucester, Bluecoat School, oval uniface silver Scholar’s badge, crest, an armoured hand holding a patriarchal cross, sir thomas rich’s hospital around, engraved no. 8, 65 x 52mm, 36.88g. Minor rim nicks, otherwise very fine, rare; with loop mount for suspension £120-£150

Provenance: B.M. Greenaway Collection, DNW Auction M4, 10 May 2007, lot 223 [from Clapp June 1982].

40 made. In Sir Thomas Rich's will of 1666 he left his Gloucester house in Eastgate and £6,000 for a school to be established for twenty poor boys in Gloucester. The money was mainly invested in farm land and the rent was to pay for the running of the school. The school was opened in 1668, one year after Sir Thomas's death. He decreed that the pupils should wear ‘blue coats and caps according to the laudable usage of Christ Church Hospital in London.’ The blue drugget gown and yellow stockings were replaced in 1882 by the modern equivalent, the distinctive blue blazer; this badge and the next pre-date 1882. The school moved to its present location from the centre of Gloucester in May 1964.

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