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. The white pearls which surround the bezel of the ring often symbolised purity and the white enamel urn is covered with a cloth to show mourning. The initials WF can be seen on the body of the urn which was also set with tiny diamonds.

This ring commemorates William Fauquier. It is inscribed in Latin 'Wilm/ Fauquier/ Esqr./ obt. Decr. 15/ 1788/ aet. 80.' (William Fauquier Esq. died 15 December 1788 aged 80). He was a member of a notable Huguenot London family. His father Jean François Fauquier was one of the wave of French Protestants who left the country to flee religious persecution. Jean François moved to London to work alongside Sir Isaac Newton and later became a director of the Bank of England and deputy master of the Royal Mint. He also had substantial investments in the East India Company. He became involved with the South Sea Company, a joint stock company set up in 1711 to consolidate government debt which led to the South Sea Bubble, creating a wholesale financial crash. He was naturalized as a British citizen in 1698 and married Elizabeth Chamberlayne.

His younger son William Fauquier inherited a large fortune and as well as continuing the family involvement in the South Sea Company, became a director of the London Assurance Company and the secretary of the Society of Dilettanti (a gentlemen's dining club which became a leading force in British cultural life, sponsoring archaeological excavations and contributing to the formation of the Royal Academy and British Museum). He married Grace Warner (1717-1754?) at St Margaret Lee, Kent on 24 May 1742 and had seven children. His brother Francis Fauquier was lieutenant general of Virginia until his death in 1768 and became known as the 'father of the colonies'. William and Francis were both governors of the Foundling Hospital, set up in London by Thomas Coram with support from the painter William Hogarth to care for poor or abandoned children. William Fauquier also contributed to the costs for setting up a general hospital in Bath.

William Fauquier was buried alongside his wife Grace in the churchyard at Eltham, in south London.