Louisa and Frances Bohun were two of the seven children of the Beccles solicitor George William Browne Bohun and his wife Mary Ward, the daughter of a clergyman and author. Louisa, who was painted wearing Elizabethan costume in the miniature portrait on the front of the locket, died in April 1816 aged 18. Her younger sister Frances, whose hair is set under glass at the back of the locket, died in August of the same year, aged only 15. Their eldest sister Mary survived them by a year, dying in 1817 aged 23. There is a memorial to the family in Worlingham church, Suffolk.

The locket memorialising the two girls was probably made for a member of their close family. Mourning jewellery set with hair has been made since at least the 17th century. In 1647, Mary Verney wrote to her husband Sir Ralph who was living in exile during the Commonwealth period to ask him to send her locks of hair from their young daughter who had recently died in order to make a bracelet. Wearing jewellery set with hair from a loved one might have provided some comfort and served as a tangible reminder of the deceased in a time of high mortality.