CASED HUMANE SOCIETY MEDAL TO JOHN FLEURET, 28 MAY 1871

The following extracts are from the Morning Advertiser 21 June 1871, Dover Express 4 Aug 1871 and Southampton Observer 13 May 1899:

"The bronze medal was awarded to John Fleuret for saving Arthur Self, who slipped off a barge from the pier at Erith….the boy, aged eight years, is the stepson of Mr Selfe, watchmaker.

A presentation of the medal took place a few weeks since at the Pier, from which the boy fell. The presentation was made at the Pier Hotel Mr John Beach Fleuret, of Hythe, Southampton, whose portrait appears in the 'Estates Gazette' of Saturday, is senior partner of the firm of Fleuret Sons & Adams auctioneers of Southampton Road, Holborn.

He is well-known in the Solent as a yachtsman, and owns the yawl 'Gertrude'. For many years Commmodore of the Temple Yacht Club, he is also amember of the Royal London, New Thames, Royal Harwich and Royal Southampton Clubs. He possesses the Royal Humane Society medal for saving the lives of two lads off Erith Pier."

John Beach Fleuret was born in Middlesex in 1840 and was 'a noted auctioneer and sailor'. He was the landscape architect of Forest Lodge near Hythe, Hampshire and designed the gardens and Chinese pagoda.