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TRAFALGAR MEDAL SECURED FOR MUSEUM EXHIBITION
A RARE medal awarded for service in the Battle of Trafalgar has been secured for a Manx Museum exhibition.
A Naval General Service Medal with the word 'Trafalgar' on its clasp will be loaned to the museum in Douglas.
It belongs to Charles Barkler, of Kelso, Scotland, who is the great, great, great grandson of the recipient, John Cowle, who served on the HMS Temeraire.
The medals were issued in 1848, more than 43 years after the battle, to men who submitted a claim. However, due to the lengthy interlude only a handful of sailors collected them.
The medal will go on display this October when the museum will host an exhibition to commemorate 200 years since Lord Nelson's famous victory in the battle, which involved 60 Manxmen.
John Cowle lost his arm at Trafalgar and was known ever afterwards as 'Hook' Cowle.
He became a widely respected school teacher in Bride and there is a memorial to him in Kirk Bride.
At the height of the battle, HMS Temeraire came to the assistance of HMS Victory when the latter was in danger of being boarded by sailors from French ship, the Redoutable.
Matthew Richardson, MNH curator for social history, said: 'We are delighted Mr Barkler has agreed to loan us the medal for this exhibition, as it illustrates the heroic part played by Manxmen in the naval battles of the Napoleonic wars and the Battle of Trafalgar in particular.'
The medal will go on display alongside Lieutenant John Quilliam's uniform and sword. He was first lieutenant on board the Victory and was an MHK in the Island.
The True Glory: Manxmen at Sea in the Age of Trafalgar will run until March 2006.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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