Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Wyon, William
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WYON, William (1795-1851), medallist, cousin of Thomas Wyon, was born at Birmingham in 1795. In 1809 he was apprenticed to his father, a die-sinker. Removing to London, he studied the works of Flaxman, attended the schools of the Royal Academy, and gained a gold medal from the Society of Arts for a copy of the head of Ceres, and a second for an original group. In 1816 he was appointed assistant engraver to the mint, and in 1828 chief engraver; in 1831 he was elected associate and in 1838 full member of the Royal Academy. He executed coinages for George IV., William IV., and Queen Victoria, the Peninsular, Trafalgar, and Cabul medals, the William IV. coronation medal, and those of many learned societies. He died at Brighton on October 29, 1851. A memoir, with a list of his works, by Nicholas Carlisle, was privately issued in 1837.