Victoria, 1837-1901 Tokens, Medals, etc

Key Events

1837	Victoria succeeds her uncle, William IV
1838	Publication of People’s Charter. Start of Chartism.
1839	First Afghan War. British Forces capture the fortress of Ghazi in Afghanistan.
1839 – 42	First Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong.
1840	Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1840	The Penny Post is introduced. First postage stamp is the Penny Black.
1840	First colonist settlement in New Zealand
1841	Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister
1842	End of First Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong
1843	Launch of SS Great Britain the worlds first all metal ship.
1844	Railway building mania starts. 5,000 miles of track are built in Britain by 1846
1845	– 1849 Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people. Many emigrate to America.
1846	Repeal of the Corn Laws
1848	Major Chartist demonstration in London.
1848	Pre-Raphaelite movement begins
1849	Harrods store in London is opened
1851	Great Exhibition takes place in Hyde Park. Its success is largely due to Prince Albert.
1852	Death of the Duke of Wellington
1853	Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory.
1853	Victoria uses chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopold.
1854	-1856 Crimean War fought by Britain and France against Russia.
1854	Charge of the Light Brigade
1854	10,000 die of cholera from contaminated water in London.
1856	The Victoria Cross is instituted for military bravery.
1856	David Livingstone discovers the Victoria Falls
1857	-1858 Indian Mutiny against British rule.
1858	Isambard Kingdom Brunel launches The Great Eastern, the largest ship in the world and the first with a double iron hull.
1858	First trans-Atlantic telegraph service
1859	Publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species.
1861	Prince Albert dies of typhoid
1861	– 65 Civil War in America. Southern states unsuccessfully seek to involve Britain which has sufficient cotton from Egypt and India, but needs the Union North’s grain.
1863	The world’s first underground railway is opened in London
1863	Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Alexandra of Denmark
1863	The Salvation Army is founded.
1863	The Football Association is founded.
1865	Slavery is ended in America with Northern Union victory in the American Civil War
1867	The Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise vote to two million.
1867	Canada becomes the first independent dominion in the Empire.
1867	Karl Marx publishes the first volume of Das Kapital
1868	Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time.
1869	The Irish Church is disestablished.
1870	First Education Act. Primary education becomes compulsory.
1870	Death of Charles Dickens
1871	Trade Unions are legalized
1872	Secret voting is introduced for elections.
1872	Henry Stanley finds David Livingstone who had been missing in Africa.
1874	Disraeli becomes Prime Minister for the second time.
1875	Suez Canal shares purchased for Britain.
1875	Thomas Moy demonstrates his Aerial Steamer the worlds first flying machine at Crystal Palace, London
1876	Victoria becomes Empress of India.
1876	Scots Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone
1878	Second Afghan War. British defend the Kyber Pass.
1878	William Booths Christian movement adopts the name The Salvation Army
1879	Tay Bridge disaster
1879	Zulu war, British troops massacred at Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift
1880	Gladstone succeeds Disraeli as Prime Minister
1880	– 1881 First conflict with Boers in South Africa
1883	British occupy Egypt
1884	Third Reform Act all adult males given the vote.
1884	Greenwich Meridian and Mean Time adopted
1886	First Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister.
1887	Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee. She has ruled for 50 years.
1887	Independent Labour Party is founded.
1891	Free schooling is introduced. 11 years later school attendance becomes compulsory for all children.
1893	Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords.
1897	Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.
1897	Marconi demonstrates wireless transmission across the Bristol Channel
1899	-1902 Boer War in South Africa. Siege of Mafeking
1900	Labour party founded
1901	Queen Victoria dies, aged 81.

Tokens, Medals, etc

1837 “Cumberland Jack” Tokens

The tokens & counters that bear the words “To Hanover” (commonly known as Cumberland Jacks) are usually found with Victoria’s portrait on the obverse and a figure riding a horse on the reverse (in the style of St George slaying the dragon).

The history behind these pieces is that when Victoria was crowned as Queen, she was unable to fulfil the role of King of Hanover under Salic Law, due to the fact that she was a female. Her unpopular Uncle (Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland) who was the oldest male heir to the throne was sent off to Hanover instead to fulfil the role, and the counters/tokens were produced to commemorate (celebrate) his departure. Such was his unpopularity that many of the tokens on closer inspection actually depict a monkey on horseback which was intended to portray the Duke.

They were produced around the time of Victoria’s ascension to the throne in 1837, and continued to be produced for the next few decades. They were finally made illegal in 1883.

Unofficial farthing token c. 1843

ISAAC EARLYSMAN SPARROW, IRONMONGER BISHOPSGATE LONDON

Unofficial farthing token issued by Isaac Earlysman Sparrow, Ironmonger of Bishopsgate, London in the early 1840s. This is an undated version (several versions are known). The balloon refers to a balloon flight taken by Isaac Sparrow with the famous balloonist Charles Green in 1843. This flight is variously reported as costing fifty shillings or fifty pounds.