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Tuesday 5 May 2020

Another Gidley Medal found and sad news about Pete Gidley

First, the sad news that Pete Gidley died in Surrey, England on April 28th. Pete was the willing DNA donor for the Gidleys of Winkleigh and was therefore responsible for us taking a big step forward in discovering the deep Gidley ancestry, not least that there is not one single Gidley ancestor. I had the pleasure of meeting Pete and his wife Ann some years ago, when Pete recalled he was delighted to tell people, without disclosing it was for family history purposes, that a lady in Berkshire (me) wanted his DNA. Pete was very proud of his heritage and I'm glad I was able to extend his knowledge.
May 2020 update: the medal is no longer available for sale. But I have left the details below for information..
By coincidence I heard the very same day that a gentleman had purchased at a German auction another, previously unknown, Gidley medal. He provided two photos. The medal commemorates not the well-known Bartholomew Gidley whose medal can be inspected in the British Museum, but his nephew and eventual heir, another Bartholomew Gidley. This Bartholomew is the 7 X great grandfather of Pete Gidley (above). Born in London in 1668/9, the son of John Gidley, a surgeon it is said to King William III, Bartholomew  eventually moved to Winkleigh, and was buried there in the Gidley Chapel in 1702.



Jerome writes:

I recently picked this up in an auction in Germany. It was originally a medal commemorating the death of Charles II by the Roettiers, but the inscription on one side has been planed off and re-engraved to commemorate Bartholomew Gidley (1668 - 1702). 

While I suspect my piece is probably unique, it has been mounted (in furniture?) and silvered in the past, as you can probably see from the photographs, and therefore in my opinion has limited value to the general collector, especially as practically perfect examples of the medal without the engraving come up from time to time at auction.