St. James's Auctions
Auction 74 12-13 Apr 2023
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Medicine: Australia, Sir Alfred Roberts (1823-1898), the [Royal] Prince Alfred Hospital, copper prize medal, Award for Clinical Work, c.1883, by Allan Wyon, bust of the bewhiskered Roberts three-quarters r., rev. blank (for inscription) within a beaded border, 51mm. (Brett -; BDM -; Carlisle -), extremely fine and extremely rare
The Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia, is the principal teaching hospital of the University of Sydney. It was opened in 1882 due to Roberts's 'zeal and assiduity' and named after Queen Victoria's second son Prince Alfred, later Duke of Edinburgh. During a visit to Australia in 1868 Prince Alfred was the victim of an assassination attempt while on a picnic in the northern Sydney suburb of Clontarf. Australians opened a public subscription fund to build a hospital as a memorial to his safe recovery. The prince authorised his coat of arms to be used as the new hospital's crest. King Edward VII granted the hospital its Royal prefix in 1902.
Roberts, who arrived in Sydney in 1853, was educated at St Paul's School and Guy's Hospital and in 1844 became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Sir Henry Parkes wrote of him (to Florence Nightingale), "Mr Roberts is a respectable professional man ... but he is ... a fussy, officious dilettante in all matters of sanitary reform, who spoils his own efforts to be useful by his desire to be the authority on all occasions".
Estimate: 80 - 120 GBP
The Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia, is the principal teaching hospital of the University of Sydney. It was opened in 1882 due to Roberts's 'zeal and assiduity' and named after Queen Victoria's second son Prince Alfred, later Duke of Edinburgh. During a visit to Australia in 1868 Prince Alfred was the victim of an assassination attempt while on a picnic in the northern Sydney suburb of Clontarf. Australians opened a public subscription fund to build a hospital as a memorial to his safe recovery. The prince authorised his coat of arms to be used as the new hospital's crest. King Edward VII granted the hospital its Royal prefix in 1902.
Roberts, who arrived in Sydney in 1853, was educated at St Paul's School and Guy's Hospital and in 1844 became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Sir Henry Parkes wrote of him (to Florence Nightingale), "Mr Roberts is a respectable professional man ... but he is ... a fussy, officious dilettante in all matters of sanitary reform, who spoils his own efforts to be useful by his desire to be the authority on all occasions".
Estimate: 80 - 120 GBP