Historical Token Exonumia King William IV 1831 - 1837

sizes 32 -39 mm - 12.9 - 28 g Historical Souvenir Token : (Crown)

Receive a token from bronze, brass, copper or nickel. Silver plated or gold plated.The motif is William IV.

A perfect gift for collectors or as an addition to your own collection. 

This offer is only available for a limited time!

Quantity: as long as stock lasts

Material e.g.: Cu/Ni / copper / bronze / brass

gold plated 22-24K / silver plated with 925 sterling plating

Condition: various conditions up to mint condition

Packaging: coin capsule

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William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover.

William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, spending time in British North America and the Caribbean, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. Between 1791 and 1811, he cohabited with the actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he had ten children. In 1818, he married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. William remained faithful to Adelaide during their marriage. In 1827, he was appointed Britain's first Lord High Admiral since 1709. 

As his two elder brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, William inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the Poor Law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the electoral system refashioned by the Reform Acts of 1832. Although William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last British monarch to appoint a prime minister contrary to the will of Parliament. He granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution. William had no surviving legitimate children at the time of his death, so he was succeeded by his niece Victoria in the United Kingdom and his brother Ernest Augustus in Hanover. When George IV died on 26 June 1830 without surviving legitimate issue, William succeeded him as William IV. Aged 64, he was the oldest person at that point to assume the British throne,[67] a distinction he would hold until surpassed by Charles III in 2022.[68][69]

Unlike his extravagant brother, William was unassuming, discouraging pomp and ceremony. In contrast to George IV, who tended to spend most of his time in Windsor Castle, William was known, especially early in his reign, to walk, unaccompanied, through London or Brighton. Until the Reform Crisis eroded his standing he was very popular among the people, who saw him as more approachable and down-to-earth than his brother.[70]

The King immediately proved himself a conscientious worker. The Prime Minister, Wellington, stated that he had done more business with King William in ten minutes than he had with George IV in as many days.[71] Lord Brougham described him as an excellent man of business, asking enough questions to help him understand the matter—whereas George IV feared to ask questions lest he display his ignorance and George III would ask too many and then not wait for a response.[72]

The King did his best to endear himself to the people. Charlotte Williams-Wynn wrote shortly after his accession: "Hitherto the King has been indefatigable in his efforts to make himself popular, and do good natured and amiable things in every possible instance."[73] Emily Eden noted: "He is an immense improvement on the last unforgiving animal, who died growling sulkily in his den at Windsor. This man at least wishes to make everybody happy, and everything he has done has been benevolent."[74]

William dismissed his brother's French chefs and German band, replacing them with English ones to public approval. He gave much of George IV's art collection to the nation and halved the royal stud. George had begun an extensive (and expensive) renovation of Buckingham Palace; William refused to reside there and twice tried to give the palace away, once to the Army as a barracks and once to Parliament after the Houses of Parliament burned down in 1834.[75] His informality could be startling: when in residence at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, King William used to send to the hotels for a list of their guests and invite anyone he knew to dinner, urging guests not to "bother about clothes. The Queen does nothing but embroider flowers after dinner."[76]

Upon taking the throne William did not forget his nine surviving illegitimate children, creating his eldest son, George, Earl of Munster and granting the other children the precedence of a daughter or a younger son of a marquess. Despite this his children importuned for greater opportunities, disgusting elements of the press who reported that the "impudence and rapacity of the FitzJordans is unexampled".[77] The relationship between William and his sons "was punctuated by a series of savage and, for the King at least, painful quarrels" over money and honours.[78] His daughters, on the other hand, proved an ornament to his court, as "They are all, you know, pretty and lively, and make society in a way that real princesses could not."[79]