Posted on: 6 April 2016
Thomas Gray Memorial Trust is calling for nominations to award the Thomas Gray Medal recognising exceptional deeds of merit at sea, including services to seafarers in the broadest sense. These deeds can be related to any aspect of seafaring, including saving of lives, the well being of seafarers and any exceptional deeds related to the business of seafaring.
Established in 1925 the trust honours the memory of Thomas Gray, a senior surveyor for the Board of Trade, who wanted to improve the professionalism of seafarers in the latter half of the 19th century. Until 1993 the award was provided by the Royal Society of Arts, the funds and management were then transferred to the Marine Society. The medal is awarded at the Marine Society’s Annual Court each year, in central London.
The 2015 winner of the award Tim Carter commented in his acceptance letter: “I am delighted and honoured to accept this award. I am well aware of the role of Thomas Gray from my historical studies in maritime health. Indeed he features four times in the index of my book Merchant Seamen’s Health 1860-1960: medicine, technology, shipowners and the state in Britain. He was instrumental in bringing in a number of the early provisions for health protection among British seamen. For that I feel especially privileged to receive an award in his name.”
Nominations need to be supported by a citation and need to be received by Friday, 1st July 2016. Please send your nomination along with citation by email to crockson@ms-sc.org or by post to: Thomas Gray Medal nomination, Marine Society, 202 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JW. For more information call 020 7654 7029. If you have previously received the medal you won’t be eligible again unfortunately.
