Miniature circular silvered metal medal with integral loop for ribbon suspension; the face with Our Lady of Charity with the infant Jesus on the quay at Porto, the steamship Forto foundering in the distance, all within a ring inscribed ‘CHARIDADE COM PERSEVERANCA • PORTO’ (Charity with Perseverance, Porto); the reverse with the arms of Porto, inscribed and dated below ‘AO MERITO 1852’ (for Merit 1852) and circumscribed above ‘A REAL SOCIEDADE HUMANITARIA’ (from the Royal Humanitarian Society); diameter 17.59mm (0.69 inch); on replaced ribbon. In the days before rail travel, steamships offered the quickest and most convenient means of travel and transport between Lisbon and Porto. On 29 March 1852, the steamship Forto was wrecked at the mouth of the River Douro in full view of large crowds. This event and the subsequent public reaction led to the founding of the Royal Humanitarian Society of Porto on 15 April 1852. The Society instituted an award to be given for courageous and selfless acts of life-saving, for merit, philanthropy and generosity, not just for shipwrecks but also for epidemics, fires, floods and other calamities. The Society existed for fifty-three years.
|