Glamorganshire, Llantrisant, William Price, oval copper memorial token to Jesus Christ, 1884, serpent around goat, vowels of the Welsh alphabet around, rev. gwel jesu crist o yr tan yn llysco, etc., in five lines, 37 x 25mm (TCSB 6, pp.111-14; cf. Coin News, April 1997). Obverse edge knock at 3 o'clock, otherwise VF. Provenance: Bt. L. Bennett March 1987). Dr William Price (1800-93), Chartist, heretic, archdruid and pioneer in the legalisation of cremation in Britain, studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital and became an FRS in 1822. A gifted surgeon, he nevertheless acted with complete nonconformity, after numerous speculative ventures in and around Pontypridd he was forced to leave the town in 1873 after being acquitted of the manslaughter of a patient, moving to Llantrisant with his 16-year old housemaid Gwenllian Llewellyn, who gave birth to their first child, Iesu Grist [Jesus Christ], in August 1883. Unfortunately the infant succumbed and Price cremated him on 13 January 1884 with full druidic rites. His subsequent trial and acquittal had an enormous public impact and led to the start of cremation being accepted as a way of disposal of the dead in the UK
Estimate: 60-80 GBP