The image on the bezel of this ring shows a mourning woman, wearing loose, draped clothing, standing by a large funerary urn. The inscription reads 'Ever to be remember'd', indicating that it was a memorial jewel. Although the overall impression is melancholy, the smiling face of the sun, rising behind the pedestal, hints at the beginning of a new life in heaven.

This ring probably commemorates Amos Angles, who was a tanner in Bermondsey, London. The inscription on the back of the bezel records that Amos Angles died on the 9 June, 1782, aged 73. There is a record of the christening of Amos Angles on 12 November, 1709 at Maidstone in Kent, the son of Jane and Amos and a marriage is recorded for the 18 December, 1742 of Amos to Homer Smith at St Benet's church, Paul's Wharf, London. According to his will, written in 1776 and proved on the 18 June, 1782, he had two daughters, one of whom was named Jane (possibly after her grandmother). He is recorded as a trustee of Bacon's Free School, a charitable school which was originally based above the porch at St Mary Magdalen's, Bermondsey. His will stated that 'my Body I commit to the Earth to be decently buried in the Vault or Brick Grave' of St Mary Magdalen's church. The church also served as the guild church of the Tanners Company.

Amos is recorded as working as a tanner and gave evidence in that capacity at the 1771 enquiry regarding the importation of raw hides from Ireland and North America. Bermondsey was a centre for the leather trade and tanning because of its location near the river which provided water for rinsing the hides and because the oak tres in the surrounding area provided the bark needed for tanning. As it was also a a smelly and dirty industry, it was situated on the outskirts of the 18th century city. The tanners also dealt with the skins of animals which were brought to Smithfields market and slaughtered there.

The immigration of French Protestant refugees (known as Huguenots) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought new skills and technology which helped to advance tanning. By 1790, a third of the leather used in England was said to have been produced in Bermondsey. The name 'Angles' may therefore be of French origin.

From the early seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, testators left money in their wills to have rings with commemorative inscriptions made and distributed to their friends and families. Simple bands enamelled with the name and life dates of the deceased were frequently made, sometimes set with a gemstone or a bezel set with a rock crystal covering a symbol such as a coffin or initials in gold wire. In the later 18th century, rings followed neo-classical designs, their oval bezels often decorated with the same designs as funerary monuments such as urns, broken pillars and mourning figures. Hair from the deceased was incorporated into the designs or set in a compartment at the back of the ring to give each jewel a uniquely personal element. Black or white enamel were favoured though white enamel was often, though not universally used to commemorate children and unmarried adults. By the end of the 19th century, memorial ring designs were becoming more standardised. The hoops were often inscribed with phrases such as 'In memory' whilst a commemorative inscription could be added to the inside of the hoop. The custom of giving rings as memorials gradually declined in the early 20th century, although the Goldsmiths Journal suggests that some were still being sold in the 1930s.