Mark Addy (Albert Medal) - Awards and Honours

Awards and Honours

In January 1878, before a large crowd of people at Salford Town Hall in Bexley Square, Mark was presented with a loyal address of appreciation by the Mayor of Salford and awarded with a purse of 200 guineas for his heroic deeds, by the people of Salford. Immediately after the ceremony Mr. James Smith, a member of the Humane Society for the Hundred of Salford presented an address and the Gold Medal of the Society to which the members of the nearby Nemesis Rowing Club added a gold clasp as a token of their appreciation. He was awarded a number of other medals including the Silver Medal of the Humane Society for the Hundred of Salford and the Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society.

In November 1878, Addy received the following letter from the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli:

10 Downing Street,

Whitehall,
6th November, 1878

Sir,

The attention of the Sovereign having been called to the repeated acts of heroism performed by you in saving, at the risk of your own life, those of many of her majesty's subjects from drowning in the River Irwell, I have the gratification to inform you that the Queen has been graciously pleased to confer on you, in recognition of your gallantry and daring, the honour and distinction of the Albert Medal of the first class. I have accordingly instructed the Secretary of State to take the necessary steps to give effect to her majesty's commands.

I have the honour to be your obedient servant,—

BEACONSFIELD

Formal notice of the award appeared in the London Gazette of 17 December 1878:

Whitehall, December 13, 1878.

THE Queen has been graciously pleased to confer the "Albert Medal of the First Class" on—

MARK ADDY, of Salford.

Statement of the case of MARK ADDY, to whom the Albert Medal of the First Class has been granted in recognition of his repeated acts of heroism in saving life from drowning in the River Irwell.

MARK ADDY, a well-known oarsman and sculler, has resided all his life on the banks of the polluted River Irwell; his father and brothers having followed the trade of Boat Builders.

During a period of about twenty-five years, he has, under circumstances of imminent peril, both from the violence of the river and the pestilential nature of its waters, saved no fewer than six-and-thirty lives, several of the cases having occurred subsequently to the date of the creation of the said Order.

For his heroic efforts and conspicuous gallantry, he has, at various times, received the following distinctions :—

The Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society.
The Silver Medal of the Salford Humane Society.
The Gold Medal of the Salford Humane Society.
An illuminated Address setting forth his Badges of Honour from the Salford Humane Society.

A purse of 200 guineas and an illuminated Address from the inhabitants of Salford.

He was presented with the Albert Medal, First Class, by the Mayor of Salford, Alderman Robinson, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in the large assembly room of Salford Town Hall in Bexley Square in June 1879.

The medals awarded to Mark Addy, now kept in the Salford Museum and Art Gallery (Peel Park Art Gallery), are as follows:

• Albert Medal, first class having the 1.373 inch crimson ribbon with four white stripes, with the following inscription on the back "Presented in the name of Her Majesty to Mark Addy of Salford for gallantry in saving six and thirty lives in the River Irwell"
• Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal for a successful rescue, with a blue ribbon, engraved on the edge "Mark Addy, December 1878"
• Hundred of Salford Humane Society Silver Medal engraved "for saving the life of Mary Barrett, 24th June 1872" with a pink ribbon with green edges and a gold bar of the "Nemesis Rowing Club"
• Hundred of Salford Humane Society Gold Medal with a pink ribbon with green edges and a gold bar engraved "Memorial Committee"
• Manchester and Salford Swimmers Silver Medal and Clasp with a blue ribbon