| Author |
Replies: 11 / Views: 2,271 |
|
|
New Member
United Kingdom
4 Posts |
Hi - I'd be very grateful if anyone could tell me what these coins / tokens are. They've come down through the family. One of them says REM H. JOY McCRACKEN and relates to my ancestor Henry Joy McCracken who was hanged in Belfast in 1798. The other says "The cause of Liberty is the cause of God". The final one is an image of an arm and a sword. Henry Joy McCracken was a United Irishman who led an uprising against the British. Would these coins / tokens have been produced as some kind of memorial to him? Any information you have would so welcome. Many thanks! *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***
|
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
What is on the other side of these? Great image. I would think your theory is right on the money, if you'll pardon the pun. I think these are similar to what they call "Love Tokens" but obviously not those. Very neat! and  to CCF
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
Those pieces look unique & unless Henry was a national hero or something,
their value lies as family keepsakes. Very neat, my ancestors were either crooks or lawyers.
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Verrah interestin'. The token collectors will probably be really interested in the token celebrating your ancestor.
|
|
New Member
 United Kingdom
4 Posts |
@TheNickelGuy the other sides are blank. @fioti yes, he's been on stamps in Ireland, he's a bit of hero to some people. Is there a token collectors forum I could post in?
|
|
New Member
 United Kingdom
4 Posts |
And thanks for the welcome TheNickelGuy!
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
 Could be WWI trench art, too. Difficult to tell possible dates.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Interesting and attractive things even if I can't help tell you anything about them ^^ 
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
701 Posts |
Edited by tenbobbit 08/27/2017 6:57 pm
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
12057 Posts |
The arm with the sword (or dirk) is that of the heraldry of Connacht, but it was also popular stamped over images of the British monarch and other royals on 17th & 18th c. coins and tokens.
Reverend Most Righteous & Honorable (Rev M R H) Henry Joy McCracken is as noted above; he was a Protestant who supported the Catholic cause, along with most of the other leaders of the Society of United Irishmen. In particular, the Society were fighting the disenfranchisement and forced removal of Catholics and Presbyterians as carried out by the primarily-Anglican Ascendancy; not because of any particular love for Catholics or Presbyterians, but because they viewed such offenses as contrary to the laws of nature and at odds with the view of Liberty espoused by John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and especially Thomas Paine.
The quote inscribed is paraphrased, perhaps, from Patrick Henry's famous 1775 "Liberty or Death" speech:
"...we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us."
The mid to late 18th c. Irish revolutionaries, heavily inspired by both the Enlightenment philosophers and the American Revolution, sought to unite Ireland, irrespective of religion, and free the land from the oppressive yoke of the British government. This sentiment would later express itself more fully with the Fenian Rising and the Brotherhood, and even through the Easter Proclamation, but which would later serve in sharp contrast to the Troubles and the re-defining of the goals of the Irish nationalist movement along religious lines.
"The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally." - Clarke, Mac Diarmada et al., 'Easter 1916 Proclamation of an Irish Republic'
Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis
Edited by paralyse 08/27/2017 8:26 pm
|
|
New Member
 United Kingdom
4 Posts |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
455 Posts |
I believe these coins which were engraved upon contemporary coins by your ancestors to commemorate the historical events of your relative. I imagine these tokens would be highly regarded in Ireland especially in the area where your ancestor lived. I also believe that the tokens all refer to this one man.
|
| |
Replies: 11 / Views: 2,271 |
|