THE WATERFORD FARMING SOCIETY AGRICULTURAL PRIZE MEDAL AWARDED TO PAUL CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, 1877, by Ottley for "C.N.B.", white metal, 51mm diameter approx, signed "C.N.B." in obverse exergue. Obverse: Agricultural scene, farm animals, plough and other farm implements, buildings and haystacks in background. Reverse: a wreath of shamrocks, engraved within "5 ACRES SECOND PRIZE P C ANDERSON 1877". Old dark tone and some light surface porosity but retaining some original lustre, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Medal accompanied by biographical details and extract Burke's Landed Gentry.
Paul Christmas Anderson (1817-1907) of Prospect, county Kilkenny, was a member of the Anderson family of Grace Dieu, county Waterford, the fourth son of the Reverend Joshua Anderson, M.A. (1770-1859) of Grace Dieu, Rector of Myshall, county Carlow.
The Anderson family of Grace-Dieu trace their descent from John Anderson of Ardbrake, Botriphnie, Banffshire, Scotland. His second son, the Reverend Arthur Anderson, was chaplain to King William III. John Anderson's grandson, Major Alexander Anderson, of Sir John Hill's Regiment of Foot, built Grace-Dieu in 1840.
Paul Christian Anderson was the brother of Surgeon-Major Robert Carew Anderson (1815-1885), 13th Light Dragoons, and Deputy Inspector of Military Hospitals, and the nephew of Lieutenant-General Paul Anderson C.B., K.C.H. (1767-1851), 78th Highlanders, who was A.D.C. to Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore at Corunna in 1809 and was with General Moore when he died.
Grace-Dieu, originally a two storey villa, was constructed in 1840 and transformed during the late 19th century, being considerably extended into an Italianate mansion. In recent years the former mansion has been used as a Retreat House.
A similar Waterford Farming Society white metal prize medal was sold by Noonan's on 16/6/2017 (lot 1686). That medal sold for £80 (£105 approx. including fees).
