Cecil Thomas MBE FRBS and Gilbert Bayes FRBS: their work as medallists

In 2026 we are marking 50 years of the Royal Society of Sculptors at Dora House, our current home. This was made possible in 1976 by the generosity of Cecil Thomas OBE FRBS, (1885 – 1976) who set up the Dora House Trust in memory of his late wife to bequeath the house to the Society. 

To mark this year and a few days after Cecil's birthday, we invite you to join a talk by Philip Attwood FSA Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum. 

Philip Attwood worked in the British Museum’s Department of Coins and Medals from 1979 until 2020, serving as Keeper of Coins and Medals from 2010. From 1990 to 2025 he was editor of The Medal, the journal of the British Art Medal Society (BAMS), and from 2012 to 2025 president of the Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d’Art (FIDEM). For many years he has been a vice-president of BAMS and honorary curator of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers’ medal collection. His many publications include Italian medals, c.1530-1600, in British public collections, Hard at work: the diary of Leonard Wyon 1853-1867 and Mary Gillick sculptor and medallist. He is currently working on a book on the sculptor and medallist Frank Bowcher (1864-1938).