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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

Next of Kin Memorial Plaque

Medal
ca. 1919 (made)
Artist/Maker
Preston, Edward Carter (medallist)
Place of origin
Acton (made)

An estimated one million of these plaques were cast in a converted laundry in Acton. It was one of the largest medallic productions ever undertaken. The medals were given to the families of those who had been lost in the First World War. They soon became known as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’.


Object details

Categories
Coins & Medals
Sculpture
Object type
Medal
TitleNext of Kin Memorial Plaque (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze, cast
Bronze
Brief description
Plaque, bronze, by Edward Carter Preston, England (Acton), ca. 1919
Physical description
Obv. only, a line in the foreground, behind which stands Britannia holding a trident, and a wreath of palm. Fish and a spring of oak in the background.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 121mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • "HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR," "VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM SPECIMEN MCMXIX." (obv.)
  • "E. CR. P." (obv., signed)
Credit line
Given by the War Office
Subjects depicted
Lion
Trident
Wreath
Fish
Oak
Britannia
Summary
An estimated one million of these plaques were cast in a converted laundry in Acton. It was one of the largest medallic productions ever undertaken. The medals were given to the families of those who had been lost in the First World War. They soon became known as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’.
Bibliographic references
  • Cf. Attwood, Philip. Artistic circles: the medal in Britain 1880-1918. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Press, 1992. no. 23. p. 62.
  • Dutton, Philip. The dead man's Penny. A short history of the Next of Kin Memorial Plaque. The Medal. no. 29, Autumn, 1996. pp. 62-71.
  • Trusted, Majorie. ed. The Making of Sculpture: the Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture. London: V&A Publications, 2007. p. 76. pl. 116.
  • Jones, Mark. (ed.). G.F. Hill and the production of the First World War Memorial Plaque. The Medal, no. 8, 1986, p. 25.
  • Cullen, Lucy, Fisher, Wendy and Jopek, Norbert, 'One by One': European Commemorative Medals for the Great War 1914-1918, London : Victoria & Albert Museum, 1998 67
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.10-1920

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Record createdMay 4, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111667/next-of-kin-memorial-plaque-medal-preston-edward-carter/
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