Silver cross medal

[je177]

I dug this medal today in a farm field in the Fall River/Westport, MA area. I believe it is silver. It has the name Samuel Ward Lingard inscribed in the middle. It is perfectly flat in the back. It weighs approximately 27.5 grams. I'm very curious as to what it is. I have an idea but would like to hear from Tnet before I make a suggestion. This was also posted in the What is it? forum. Thank you for looking.

 

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[wagbert]

It looks like a very special award of some kind. That is a nice piece of silver. Now as to the name inscribed .....
There was a Samuel Ward Lingard listed as "clerk" in the "Journal of the Annual Convention of the Anglican Diocese of Mass. 1901".
There are several others with that name too, English and Australians who saw service in WWI. One SWL was born in England, and died in California U.S.A..
People get around.
Good Luck,
Phil

 

[tony curnick]

Man that's ��!

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[joee5]

Sweet find

 

[mxh5891]

How cool would it be if you could return it to that guys family.

 

[trapperart]

Very nice find congrats

 

[Carolina Tom]

Well played sir!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very cool find, Congratulations!

 

[je177]

UPDATE: ITEM RETURNED TO FAMILY

So, after finding this silver medal, I did a little reasearch into the name Samuel Ward Lingard. I found that someone by that name lived in Fall River, MA (close to where it was found) and was born in England in 1864. I found that he was a member of the Mount Hope Masonic lodge in Fal River. I have a friend who is a long time member of that lodge. I inquired as to whether medallions of the sort would have been issued to members in the early 1900's and fowarded a picture. He stated that it was certainly masonic and that he had a similar medallion. He added they were not given to all members. In typical Freemason fashion, he simply stated they were awarded to those that "were worthy". Hearing this, I did a little more research and found that this Samuel Ward Lingard born in 1864 has a living great niece named Joan living in Fountain Valley, CA. I contacted her and told her of what I had found. She happens to be the geneology buff of her family and was very excited. The medallion is cleaned a bit, packaged up and ready to be shipped to her now.

This will be the first time I have been succesful at returning an item found detecting.

HH,
Jim

PS. How can I update the thread title so that I can mark it as returned?

 

[texjim]

Awesome job.. Great story.

 

[against the wind]

Excellent find and return
Congrats

 

[BigWaveDave]

Outstanding! Imagine the nieces' shock when she heard from you....Congrats!

 

[SusanMN]

Great find and research. And how wonderful that you are able to return it to his family.

 

[Reelsnrods]

That is a great find and an even better return!

 

[Gridwalker306]

That's just awesome. Really cool find and even sweeter to be able to return it.