British medal awarded in wake of 1916 to be auctioned

A rare British medal awarded to a Terenure bookseller for service during the 1916 Rising has come to light after almost 100 years.

The previously unrecorded medal was awarded to Frederick Stephens, who was a member of the St Andrew’s Volunteer Training Corps, a company of part-time soldiers who were former pupils and friends of St Andrew’s College. The school was located on St Stephen’s Green at the time and has since moved to Booterstown.

The medal was awarded, according to the engraved inscription, to Stephens “for services rendered at Beggars Bush Barracks during Rebellion 1916”.

Whyte’s auctioneers in Dublin said the medal would be sold in an auction of historical memorabilia in October.

Stuart Purcell, head of collectibles at Whyte’s, who is offering free valuations of 1916-related items, said the St Andrew’s medal had been found in a “job lot of medals acquired by a collector at an auction in England in the 1960s” and its significance only later became apparent.

He hoped further light might be shed on the medal and its recipient by members of the public.

It has proved difficult to value on account of its rarity, but it has been assigned a pre-auction estimate of between €3,000 and €5,000.

Bookseller

Stephens, who in 1916 was aged 42, was recorded in the 1911 census as a bookseller, the head of a Church of Ireland family, husband of Ellen and father of Violet, Edward and Frederick. The family lived in Brighton Gardens, Terenure.

The St Andrew’s Training Corps was part of 1st (Dublin) Battalion, Irish Volunteer Training Corps. It was essentially a “home guard” of men who were too old for regular military service.

Members of the corps wore uniform badges emblazoned with the words Georgius Rex (Latin for King George) and were informally known as the 'Gorgeous Wrecks'.

On Easter Monday 1916, the corps took part in training exercises at Ticknock Wood in the Dublin mountains and staged a mock battle against an “invading force” comprised of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) and Greystones volunteers.

During the afternoon, they heard the Rising had begun and they marched towards central Dublin wearing uniforms and carrying rifles, but with no ammunition. However, at Ballsbridge, they came under fire from rebel forces at Bath Avenue and sought refuge in Beggars Bush barracks, where they were besieged for a week and suffered five casualties.

On Saturday, May 6th, after the Rising had been quelled, the corps was reviewed by Gen John Maxwell, head of the British army in Ireland, and various civic dignitaries.

It is not known when the medal for Stephens was struck nor when it was presented to him. Nor is it known if any other member of the corps received a medal.

The St Andrew’s medal is all the more unusual because regular British soldiers who served during the Rising were not given medals because their duties were regarded as “home service”.