George V, 1910-36 – Base metals

Key Events

1910	George V becomes King and Emperor of India on the death of his father, Edward VII.
1911	Parliament Act ensures the sovereignty of the House of Commons.
1911	National Insurance Act provides sickness and unemployment benefits.
1912	The luxury passenger ship S.S. Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage, drowning more than 1,500 people.
1913	Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison throws herself under the Kings horse at the Epsom Derby
1914	Anglican Church in Wales is disestablished.
1914	The heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire is assassinated. Outbreak of World War I.
1914	Battles of Mons, the Marne, and Ypres.
1915	Second Battle of Ypres. Allied Gallipoli expedition fails to remove Turkey from the war.
1916	Battle of the Somme. Naval Battle of Jutland between British and German fleets.
1916	Easter Rising in Dublin in support of Irish independence.
1916	David Lloyd George replaces Asquith as Prime Minister.
1917	Battle of Passchendale.
1917	Russian Revolution.
1918	Czar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra (both cousins of George V) and their royal family are shot in Ekaterinburg.
1918	Kaiser Wilhelm II (cousin of George V) abdicates as Germany faces defeat in World War I.
1918	The end of World War I. Armistice signed on 11 November.
1918	Reform Act gives votes to women over 30.
1918	General Election produces landslide victory for Sinn Fein MPs in Ireland, who refuse to take their seats in Westminster and form their own DalI parliament in Dublin.
1919	Lady Astor becomes the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons
1919	Third Afghan War. Afghanistan gains independence from Britain
1919	A flu-pandemic (known as Spanish Flu) rages around the world killing over 50 million people.
1919	-1921 Ireland partitioned into the Free State and the province of Northern Ireland.
1920	Marconi opens first radio broadcasting station in Britain
1920	A flu epidemic rages around the world killing more than 20 million people.
1922	The British Broadcasting Company starts radio transmissions
1923	Prince Albert (later George VI) marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
1924	Ramsay MacDonald becomes Prime Minister of the first Labour Government
1926	General Strike fails to reverse wage cuts and imposition of longer hours.
1926	John Logie Baird demonstrates world’s first television in London
1927	British Broadcasting Corporation founded by Royal Charter
1928	All women over the age of 21 get the vote.
1928	George V falls seriously ill with blood poisoning of the lung.
1928	Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1929	Beginning of the Great Depression which lasted almost 10 years
1931	The Statute of Westminster recognizes independence of. the dominions.
1931	Great Depression leads to the formation of a national government of all three political parties under the leadership of Ramsay MacDonald.
1932	George V makes the first annual Christmas broadcast on radio.
1935	George V celebrates his Silver Jubilee.
1935	Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates Radar
1935	Stanley Baldwin replaces Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister
1936	George V dies at Sandringham.

Base Metal Coins and Tokens

1911 Halfpenny

S. 4056 dies 1+A*

1913 Penny ‘Love Token’ (?)

1913 Third Farthing issued for use in Malta

S. 4062 Peck 2358

Slabbed and graded CGS 88 (BU – NFDC)

1917 Penny

S. 4051

slabbed and graded LCGS 82 (Choice UNC)

1917 Farthing

S. 4059

slabbed and graded CGS 82 (Choice UNC) Dark finish

1918 Penny

S. 4051

1920 Penny

S. 4051

1924 Medal British Empire Exhibition in Bronze

Eimer 1991

1924 Medal British Empire Exhibition in Nickel

Eimer 1991

Obv. Head of Mercury, left. COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

Rev. A crane above a steamship. THE BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION 1924 BHM# 4194. 28mm AE. CC. by W. McMillan.

This medal was struck at the Royal Mint stand at the exhibition. It was one of the so-called ‘Keepsake Medals’ and cost 6d. This medal was also the runner-up in the competition for a commemorative piece for the exhibition