William Wyon (1795 -1851) was invited to design the Society’s first medal and he produced the well known design that is still used to this day.

The Society’s General Medal, which has a red and white striped ribbon, was introduced in 1894 because for a long time difficulty had been experienced in providing suitable honorary awards for lifesaving acts for which the Marine or Fire Medal were not appropriate.

In January 1875 local charities in the Liverpool area were bequeathed the sum of nearly £300,000 by a Mr Roger Lyon Jones, a former Liverpool City Councillor.

Following a generous bequest from the late Mr. Eric Deakin, a former Society Swimming Judge, it was decided to institute a special award in his name.

The In Memoriam Medallion was introduced in 1877 to recognise the gallantry displayed by those who lost their lives whilst attempting to rescue others.

In 1872/1873 two additional medals for saving life at sea became available to the Society, and in the absence of anything being found to the contrary we believe that these two medals were deemed to be of equal merit to the Society’s Marine Medal.

Less than one month after donating the funds to found the Camp & Villaverde Medal, John Bramley-Moore, who grew rich as a trader and performed great service to the general maritime welfare of Liverpool, donated a further £500 to the Society on condition that it was applied to the founding of a medal bearing the inscription on its reverse “BRAMLEY-MOORE MEDAL FOR SAVING LIFE AT SEA, 1872”.

In 1885 the Swimming & Life-Saving Medal was introduced for award to school children in the Liverpool area. Originally a silver medal was awarded to the best boy and best girl at each school that entered a minimum of eight swimmers competing against each other.