A scarce Ireland Medal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire in silver and Royal Masonic Hospital Jewel pair awarded to Thomas Calderwood for his bravery in a house in Martello Terrace, Kingstown (now Dun Laoighre) during a kitchen fire, when a domestic servant set fire to a coat dropped over her shoulders, in her panic the servant flung the coat away across the kitchen where it fell on bottle containing a small quantity of petrol which also then caught fire. Having run out of the house and raised an alarm, two passers-by ran inside and extinguished the fire. Meanwhile the woman’s sister asleep in a room off the kitchen, awoke to find her room filled with smoke. Mr Calderwood a commercial traveller from Belfast went in through the kitchen and brought her safely out. He would receive the medal and award of ten guineas from the Society, notably higher than the usual awards of 2 to 5 guineas. Normally made at that time. He would later go on to be a member of the Ceres Masonic Lodge having transferred there from the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1922.
Pair: Medal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire in Silver, impressed naming; with top brooch bar. (THOMAS CALDERWOOD. KINGSTOWN. 28 JUNE 1918.) In John Pinches fitted case of issue; Royal Masonic Hospital Jewel, silver, hallmarks to reverse, reverse engraved: ‘BRO. T. CALDERWOOD. NO.4179’, this in its fitted card box of issue.
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Thomas Calderwood would receive one of just two known medals, and the only one in silver from the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire for actions in Ireland, specifically in the Dublin area. The Irish Times relating that a domestic servant , while lighting the kitchen fire in a house in Martello Terrace, Kingstown (now Dun Laoighre) set fire to the sleeve of a coat draped over her shoulders. In her panic she flung the coat away across the kitchen where it fell on a bottle containing a small quantity of petrol, which also caught fire. She ran out into the street and raised an alarm. Two passers-by ran inside and extinguished the fire. Meanwhile, the girl’s sister, asleep in a room off the kitchen, awoke to find her room filled with smoke. The window as barred but a Mr. Calderwood heard her cries came in through the kitchen and brought her safely out. Mr Calderwood was a commercial traveller from Belfast. In addition to the medal he also received from the Society an award to ten guineas (£10.50), which was a considerably higher amount than the awards of 2 to 5 guineas normally made at that time. Neither of the other helpers received any award from the society.
Calderwood would go on to join Ceres Masonic Lodge in October 1922, having previously been a member of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. He died on 24th December 1973 and his last known address was 2 Avenfield Avenue, Ayr.
