Julian Wolff initiated the “Two-Shilling Award” in 1962, and bestowed this first “extraordinary Irregular award” on Rex Stout "for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty." In 1966, Wolff gave the fifth Two-Shilling Award to William S. Hall, “one of our Founding Fathers.”
William S. Hall was, indeed, there at the beginning. A member of Christopher Morley’s Three Hours For Lunch Club and Grillparzer Club (Morley’s clubs that eventually morphed into the BSI), Hall frequently was mentioned in Morley’s Saturday Review of Literature articles. Hall attended the "first meeting" of the BSI, on January 6, 1934. In his 1/27/1934 “Bowling Green” article, Morley wrote:
W.S.H. [i.e., Bill Hall] secretary of the Baker Street Irregulars, has allowed us to look over the minutes of the first meeting of the club.”In 1944, when Edgar Smith instituted Investiture in the BSI, Hall was part of the first class of Investitures, as The Blue Carbuncle.
The Two-Shilling Award is a tradition that has lasted through the years, and it is still periodically bestowed on worthy BSI. For a list of Two-Shilling Award recipients, see our Links page.
The BSI Trust acquired Hall’s Two-Shilling Award in 2014.
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Related Materials
The 1934 BSI DinnerThe 1944 BSI Dinner (Hall's investiture)
Explanation of BSI Honours & Terms
See all the BSI Memorabilia on our website
Page composed on 9/6/14 by Andy Solberg.
This page last updated 9/7/14 by Andy Solberg.
