Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID # |
1961.027.019 |
Object Name |
Medal, Commemorative |
Title |
1838 Coronation Commemorative Item |
Lexicon category |
8: Communication Artifact |
Date |
1838 |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
England, United Kingdom |
Description |
Medal commemorating the 1838 coronation of Queen Victoria. It is a coin-like item, housed in a circular wood and glass picture frame. The medal is set off within the frame by a goldtone textured background (material is?). The wooden frame has been painted black. There is a small hook on the back of the frame, allowing it to be hung up on a wall for display. The frame is not contemporary with the medallion, but something the family kept it in, later on in the 20th-century. It was backed with a round, silver and black illustration piece of a silhouette woman working a tapestry. The medal has a smooth and undecorated back side. There is a small nick or broken-off part at the top of it (did it have a hanging loop long ago?). The obverse has a head and shoulders portrait of Queen Victoria, with her profile looking to the left. She is wearing a crown and a necklace. Above her head is "1837" (it has a flourish), and below her is "VICTORIA". There is some laurel-like decoration (at the bottom and up the sides). |
Provenance |
Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901. She ascended the throne on June 20, 1837, but was not crowned until June 28, 1838. Reportedly there were mass-produced medals for the event that were tossed to spectators and well-wishers. Probably obtained by Catharine Brown Sutton (née Sunego) during her audience with the Queen. Catharine Sutton was an Ojibwa (Anishnaabe) woman who married an Englishman, William Sutton, in 1839, at the Credit River Mission (a Wesleyan Methodist mission that was assisting Ojibwa families). It was likely worn until it broke, then it was placed in the brass pendant mount to preserve it. The Suttons had moved their family from the Credit River area to what would later be known as Grey County in the mid 1840s, in order to assist the Newash Ojibwa band with missionary work. The Newash Band gave Mrs. Sutton and her heirs a quantity of land in what later became Sarawak Township, Canada West. When an 1857 land treaty with the Crown occurred, Mrs. Sutton was in jeopardy of losing her land, as she could not legally obtain title, as she was an "Indian", and could not even purchase it at auction. This injustice, and others, led her to becoming a spokesperson for her people. She was elected by the Council at Rama to be their envoy to England in order to speak to Queen Victoria about the unfair situation for aboriginal people in Canada West. Mrs. Sutton was of the Eagle Totem and was born circa 1824 and raised at the Credit Indian Mission (near the Credit River near Lake Ontario). Her name "Nahneebahweequay" meant "Upright Woman" or "black squirrel". Mrs. Sutton died in September of 1865, at her log home in Sarawak Township, Grey County. She and Mr. Sutton still had young children to raise when she died. Her mother assisted Mr. Sutton after she passed away, as did Miss Catherine Sutton, the older daughter. The item was passed down in the family, eventually belonging to Mrs. Catherine Morgan (née Staves) of Brantford, Ontario, who was a grand-daughter of Catharine and William Sutton. Catherine Staves was married to Reverend Alfred Morgan. Alfred Morgan was the last owner of this item. Catherine Staves and Alfred Morgan were married at Toronto on August 14, 1906. Catherine Staves was the daughter of Joseph Staves (a cooper), and Sophia Staves (née Sutton). Sophia Staves had died of consumption in Sarawak Township on May 17, 1875, and Mr. William Sutton raised his grandchildren, Catherine Staves (b. 18__) and her brother, William Percy Staves (b. April 10, 1875) in Sarawak Township. |
Collection |
First Nations, Sutton Collection |
Material |
Wood/Glass/Silver/Metal/Cardboard/Paint |
Dimensions |
Dia-11.1 cm |
Found |
Brantford, Ontario |
People |
Sutton, Catharine Victoria, Queen Sutton, Catherine Sutton, William Morgan, Alfred Morgan, Catherine |
Subjects |
Coronations Royalty Commemoration |
Search Terms |
Victorian Sarawak Township Ojibwa (Anishnaabe, Anishnibeg) |
Function |
The medal is a souvenir of a royal event. It dates to the 1838 Coronation of Queen Victoria, and was collected by Nahneebahweequay, an Ojibwa girl, when she was in England that year with her Uncle and Aunt, Rev. Peter Jones and Eliza Field Jones. Later on in her life, Nahneebahweequay travelled to England again, and personally met Queen Victoria in an audience at Buckingham Palace. |