Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Lilian H. Webb. 23, July, 1879.) with integral bronze riband buckle, extremely fine £140-£180

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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R.H.S. Case No. 20658: ‘At 8 a.m. on 23 July 1879 Miss Elizabeth Reed aged 17 got out of her depth whilst bathing at the Ladies Bathing Place, Plymouth. Lilian Webb aged 16 of 22 St James Place, Plymouth plunged in at once, swam to the lady and succeeded in bringing her in to the shallow water.’

Lilian Hester Webb was born in Bermondsey, Surrey in 1863. She moved with her parents to Plymouth prior to the 1871 Census. Following her rescuing act in 1879 she moved from Plymouth to Plumstead and was appointed Teacher at the local board school and by 1881 she is recorded as a School Assistant. In 1891 she married J.B. Painting, a Mercantile Clerk, and moved to Charlton, London. Her husband died in 1911 and in the subsequent 1911 Census she is recorded as an Elementary Teacher residing in Blackheath. She died in Bexleyheath, Kent on 20 February 1959, aged 95.

Sold with copied research.