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Treasures at The Royal The Crawford Medal

The idea of awarding Society medals was first discussed in 1904 with the project being finally approved and a committee formed in 1914. The breakout of war, however, postponed any further progress on the matter until 1920, writes Nicola Davies, Head of Collections at the Royal Philatelic Society London.

Since the death of the Earl of Crawford (1847-1913), the Society was keen to find a way to perpetuate his memory in recognition of his outstanding contribution to philately and to the Society of which he had served as President from 1910-1913. It was therefore decided that one of the medals should be named after the late Earl. An avid bibliophile (his collection of philatelic books is now held at the British Library), it was appropriate that the medal to honour Crawford should be awarded for ‘the most valuable and original contribution to the study and knowledge