Leonard Charles Wyon
Encyclopedia
Leonard Charles Wyon was a British
engraver
of the Victorian era
most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
in 1887 and the bronze coinage of 1860 with the second ("bun") head portrait, in use from 1860 to 1894.
William Wyon
and his wife, Catherine Sophia, née
Keele (d. 1851), Leonard Charles Wyon was born in one of the houses in the Royal Mint
in 1826, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School
. L.C. Wyon's father taught him art and also from his father he inherited great skill in die engraving. By the age of 16 he had already made several medals and some of his early work is displayed in the British Museum
's Numismatic
collection. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy
in 1843. From 1844 he studied at the Royal Academy Schools and in the same year, at the age of just 18, he became Second Engraver under his father at the Royal Mint
. One of his earliest medals to be widely praised was his 1846 medal of the Irish
Temperance
preacher Theobald Mathew
. In 1850 he was commissioned by Queen Victoria to make medallic portraits of the royal children, and in 1851 he executed the reverse of the prize-medal for The Great Exhibition
. Also in 1851, at the age of 24, he succeeded his father, who had died, with the title of Modeler and Engraver. In 1854 he engraved the 'William Wyon Laudatory Medal', in memory of his father, for the Art Union of London. Like his father before him, he also produced dies for postage and other stamps.
In 1860 L. C. Wyon was invited to prepare designs for the new British
bronze coin denominations. It was pointed out to Wyon that on no account was Britannia
to be omitted from the reverse of the new coinage. The Queen herself took a personal interest in the design for the new minor coinage and gave several sittings to him for her portrait. Wyon submitted a number of designs to the Queen for her approval, one of which she adopted. This design included a bronze Penny
, commonly known as the 'Bun' Penny on account of Victoria's hair style.
Intending to give a bold relief to the designs on the new bronze coins, Wyon engraved the original dies so deeply that they were liable to fracture after relatively few pieces had been struck from them. He therefore had to start again and, after he had produced dies of less bold relief, mass-production of the bronze coinage began.
L. C. Wyon also engraved the dies for the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
in 1887. This coinage, the designs for which were prepared from life by Sir Joseph Boehm
, R.A.
, produced a storm of disapproval, directed particularly against Boehm's portrait of the Queen.
Wyon, like his father William before him, prepared many dies for coinage use in various parts of the British Empire
, including those for Australia, British East Africa, British Guiana, the West Indies, British Honduras, British India; the British India Native States of Alwar, Bikanir, Dwas and Dgar; Canada, Ceylon, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Jersey, Malta, Mauritius, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Straits Settlements. His official medals included the South Africa Medal
(1853), the Arctic
and Baltic Medal
s, the Indian Mutiny Medal
, and the South Africa Medal
(1879). Among his portrait medals are those of William Wordsworth
(1848), Robert Stephenson
(1850), Joseph Paxton
(1854), Richard Sainthill (1855), Henry Hallam
(1859), and William Ewart Gladstone
(1879).
On 22 June 1852 Wyon married Mary Birks (1831–1902) and the couple lived in London, first in Maida Vale
and from 1856 in St John's Wood
. None of their numerous offspring took up their father's profession.
Leonard Charles Wyon died of Bright's disease
and apoplexy
at his home, 54 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood, London, on 20 August 1891 and was buried at Paddington Old Cemetery.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
engraver
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in 1887 and the bronze coinage of 1860 with the second ("bun") head portrait, in use from 1860 to 1894.
Career
The eldest son of chief engraverEngraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
William Wyon
William Wyon
William Wyon, RA , was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death. He was influenced by the master of relief sculpture, John Flaxman. Wyon was a highly visible proponent of the Neoclassicist vogue, and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1838.Wyon was born in Birmingham,...
and his wife, Catherine Sophia, née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Keele (d. 1851), Leonard Charles Wyon was born in one of the houses in the Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
in 1826, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
. L.C. Wyon's father taught him art and also from his father he inherited great skill in die engraving. By the age of 16 he had already made several medals and some of his early work is displayed in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
's Numismatic
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
collection. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in 1843. From 1844 he studied at the Royal Academy Schools and in the same year, at the age of just 18, he became Second Engraver under his father at the Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
. One of his earliest medals to be widely praised was his 1846 medal of the Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
preacher Theobald Mathew
Theobald Mathew (temperance reformer)
Theobald Mathew , an Irish teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary, on October 10, 1790....
. In 1850 he was commissioned by Queen Victoria to make medallic portraits of the royal children, and in 1851 he executed the reverse of the prize-medal for The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
. Also in 1851, at the age of 24, he succeeded his father, who had died, with the title of Modeler and Engraver. In 1854 he engraved the 'William Wyon Laudatory Medal', in memory of his father, for the Art Union of London. Like his father before him, he also produced dies for postage and other stamps.
In 1860 L. C. Wyon was invited to prepare designs for the new British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
bronze coin denominations. It was pointed out to Wyon that on no account was Britannia
Britannia
Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...
to be omitted from the reverse of the new coinage. The Queen herself took a personal interest in the design for the new minor coinage and gave several sittings to him for her portrait. Wyon submitted a number of designs to the Queen for her approval, one of which she adopted. This design included a bronze Penny
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....
, commonly known as the 'Bun' Penny on account of Victoria's hair style.
Intending to give a bold relief to the designs on the new bronze coins, Wyon engraved the original dies so deeply that they were liable to fracture after relatively few pieces had been struck from them. He therefore had to start again and, after he had produced dies of less bold relief, mass-production of the bronze coinage began.
L. C. Wyon also engraved the dies for the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in 1887. This coinage, the designs for which were prepared from life by Sir Joseph Boehm
Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, RA was a medallist and sculptor, best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner.-Biography:...
, R.A.
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, produced a storm of disapproval, directed particularly against Boehm's portrait of the Queen.
Wyon, like his father William before him, prepared many dies for coinage use in various parts of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, including those for Australia, British East Africa, British Guiana, the West Indies, British Honduras, British India; the British India Native States of Alwar, Bikanir, Dwas and Dgar; Canada, Ceylon, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Jersey, Malta, Mauritius, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Straits Settlements. His official medals included the South Africa Medal
South Africa Medal (1854)
The South Africa Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1854, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy and British Army....
(1853), the Arctic
Polar Medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.-History:...
and Baltic Medal
Baltic Medal
The Baltic Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1856, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, and Royal Sappers and Miners who served in Baltic Sea operations against Russia in the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War...
s, the Indian Mutiny Medal
Indian Mutiny Medal
The Indian Mutiny Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1858, for issue to officers and men of British and Indian units who served in operations in suppression of the Indian Mutiny....
, and the South Africa Medal
South Africa Medal (1877)
The South Africa Medal was instituted in 1879 and was awarded by the British Government to members of the British Army and Royal Naval Brigade involved in a series of South African tribal wars between 1877 to 1879, but most notably for the Anglo-Zulu War made famous by the films Zulu and Zulu...
(1879). Among his portrait medals are those of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
(1848), Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
(1850), Joseph Paxton
Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
(1854), Richard Sainthill (1855), Henry Hallam
Henry Hallam
Henry Hallam was an English historian.-Life:The only son of John Hallam, canon of Windsor and dean of Bristol, Henry Hallam was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1799...
(1859), and William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
(1879).
On 22 June 1852 Wyon married Mary Birks (1831–1902) and the couple lived in London, first in Maida Vale
Maida Vale
Maida Vale is a residential district in West London between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats...
and from 1856 in St John's Wood
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...
. None of their numerous offspring took up their father's profession.
Leonard Charles Wyon died of Bright's disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
and apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
at his home, 54 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood, London, on 20 August 1891 and was buried at Paddington Old Cemetery.
External links
- Wyon on the Jersey Coins website
- http://www.bmagic.org.uk/people/Leonard+Charles+WyonWyon biography on Birmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
website] - http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/coins/collection/watson/index10.htmlWyon Medal Designs on the Fitzwilliam MuseumFitzwilliam MuseumThe Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
website] - http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/876166Wyon's Paris Exhibition Medal on the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
website] - Drawings, Drawing Instruments, Wax Models, Pattern Coins and Medals from the Wyon Family Sale at Spink Auction House