Craigdarroch Castle : Object : trophy [2022.006.017]

Object

Accession Number

2022.006.017

Description

A silver-plated sporting trophy, the partial egg-shaped cup with a slightly flared lip profusely decorated with repeating garlands of flowered vines, the rounded bottom sitting below a long narrow fluted shaft with a small, ridged ball in its centre, the bottom stamped MERIDEN B & COMPANY, QUADRUPLE PLATE 0130. The interior of the cup is gold-plated. On the central body of the cup is a cloud-like cartouche and within it is engraved: "RMC 220. Yds. 23 2/5 WON BY R.D. HARVEY 1898"

Narrative

According to the archivist at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, the winner of this trophy cup, Robert Dunsmuir Harvey "excelled in athletics" while attending school there as a boy. In August, 1896 he enrolled in the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario as a "gentleman cadet". His sporting exploits flourished there, and this is just one of many trophies that he won during his military college years. The citation does not indicate which sporting activity it was awarded for. It is possible that the award was for the distance of a golf drive – the distance is engraved on the cup: 220. Yds. 23 2/5

History of Use

This trophy was used by Lt. Robert Dunsmmuir Harvey (1878-1901) while he attended military college, and later while he served in the 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars regiment in India. Following his death in 1901, his regiment sent the trophy and other personal effects to his sister Elizabeth Georgina Harvey and his grandmother Joan Olive Dunsmuir at Craigdarroch. Sometime later, this trophy came into possession of R.D. Harvey's sister, Margaret Joan Harvey (Mrs. Berkeley Holme-Sumner) in England. The trophy was next inherited by her daughter Georgiana Holme-Sumner, and then by her grandson, who used it in Scotland until he donated it to Craigdarroch in 2022.