1838 – First Sidney Gold Medal is awarded

The Sidney Gold Medal was instituted in 1838 and was awarded to the best Classical Scholar going to either Oxford or Cambridge. 

The Medal originally came with a purse of 50 sovereigns, but the latter payment only lasted for five years! 

The prize was paid for by Trustees and individual subscriptions. 

The Trustees commissioned Sir Edward Thomason to cut the original die and the image was based on a miniature painted by George Perfect Harding and owned by Dr Kennedy (now in the School’s collection). 

Photo: Sidney Gold Medal

After Thomason’s death, the business was continued by G R Collis of Birmingham who supplied all medals after 1845. 

The medal was discontinued in 1855 when the stocks were exhausted but was revived again in 1899. 

In 1980 the Salopian Club decided that the Medal should be open to all disciplines and not purely the Classics.

List of Sidney Gold Medal winners PDF??? [Note: Martin Cropper has this.]