Talk:Scott Medal

While sources say the medal shows the arms of the four provinces, the only pictures I found online suggest otherwise:

• Peter O'Reilly's 1926 medal from this irishmedals.ie page clearly shows the arms of Galway City and of Dublin City instead of those of Connacht and of Leinster. Munster is fine; Ulster is shown only by the Red Hand, without the Greek cross underneath.
• From policehistory.com there are several thumbnails;
  • this example (probably before Peter O'Reilly's medal, since lacking the New York City arms in the centre) seems to have the same Galway and Dublin arms
  • this example is harder to make out but the left panel at least still looks more like a Galway ship than a Connacht dimidiation.

jnestorius^(talk) 23:58, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

The source would appear to be Francis Joseph Bigger, whose 1912 article "The Arms and Flags of Ireland" rejects the received arms of both Connacht (in his [erroneous] view an ugly British imposition unknown in Connacht) and Leinster (because those conflict with the arms of Ireland — which he gives a green field, rejecting Saint Patrick's Blue as a "fake colour"). Thus Bigger co-opts the Galway and Dublin municipal arms, which he interprets as Gaelic.^[1]

Besides the Scott Medal, I have seen a few other scattered instances of Bigger's variant provincial arms:

• Rug in the Royal Dublin Society Council Chamber, designed by Lucius O'Callaghan and made in 1928 by the Dun Emer Guild.^[2]
• 1964 carpet commissioned from Donegal Carpets by New Ireland Assurance^[3]
• "The Arms of Ireland and Her Four Provinces", embroidery in Orange Hall Lodge, North Toronto (with gold-harp-on-green for Ireland in the centre).^[4]

jnestorius^(talk) 21:17, 31 December 2021 (UTC) [Saothar na hÉireann URL added jnestorius^(talk) 10:34, 24 October 2025 (UTC)]

Hi. While it may not have when this thread was opened and the tag added, but Guard's own "Scott Medal" page on the garda.ie website states that the "outside panels are the arms of the four provinces of Ireland - Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught". I've removed the "dubious" tag. As I don't see how an interpretation of "pictures I found online" (WP:OR) can override (or undermine) an otherwise seemingly reliable/verifiable source(?) Guliolopez (talk) 20:36, 13 August 2026 (UTC)