Mourning ring, enamelled gold and woven hair under a rock crystal panel for Gabriel Wirgman and Thomas Garle, London, 1791.

Oval bezel with an outer border of blue enamel with white edging. The inscription 'GABL WIRGMAN DIED 12 SEP 1791 AGED 53' is in gold letters reserved against the enamel. The bezel is set with a background of hair upon which a funerary urn in blue and white enamel with gold details is set upon a rectangular pedestal with similar decoration. The reverse of the bezel bears the inscription 'THOS GARLE ARM. OB 5 SEPR 1789 AET 67'. The hoop is of plain gold, widening at the shoulders.

Part of a group of memorial and mourning jewels bought from Dr Marco Guastalla, acting on behalf of 'an English lady residing in Italy' (museum numbers 846-1888 to 989-1888).

Gabriel Wirgman in Arthur Grimwade, London Goldsmiths

A Gabriel Wirgman was baptised in Sweden in 1738.
Married Mary Upjohn at St Pancras parish church on 26th May 1768. Bridegroom was from St Dunstan in the West parish.
1769-72 Trade Directory entries for Upjohn, James & Wirgman watchmakers at Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell.
6th December 1769 trial at the Old Bailey involving theft of Upjohn and Wirgman’s stock at Red Lion Street(for details see the other forum topic for Gabriel Wirgman).
14th June 1771 paid Apprentice Indenture Duty for William Beazley as an engraver at Red Lion Street.
1771-4 christening records for his children at St James, Clerkenwell.
1772-4 Trade Directory entries as a jeweller and goldworker at Red Lion Street.
1775-9 Trade Directory entries for Morriset & Wirgman jewellers and goldworkers at Denmark Street, Soho.
1779-91 Trade Directory entries as a jeweller and goldworker at Denmark Street.
1780-6 christening records for his children at St Pancras Old Church.
17th December 1794 burial record for wife Mary at St John the Baptist, Clerkenwell. Aged 48 years; last address St Martin in the Fields
A so far unsubstantiated web source suggests Gabriel Wirgman died in Bath, Somerset on 21st September 1791.


GARLE, Thomas - Will - summary of PRO PROB 11/1184, 1789
In the Name of God Amen. I Thomas Garle of Labour in Vain Hill London Sugar Refiner ...
* To his sister Mary Upjohn wife of James Upjohn of Clerkenwell £100.
* To Gilbert Michell drysalter of Dowgate Hill £20.
* To his son Thomas Garle £4000, and to his son John Garle £2000, both to be paid on the death of his wife Mary Garle.
* To his wife Mary Garle all the profits that arise from his share in the sugarhouse and dwelling house situate in Labour in Vain Hill from the time of his death to the dissolving of his copartnership with Jacob Rider sen and his son Frederick Rider. If his wife dies before the dissolution of the copartnership the profits to his two sons equally.
* All his debts and funeral expenses to be paid.
* All the rest and residue of his estate to his wife Mary Garle for her own use.
* Appoints his wife Mary Garle and Gilbert Michell as his executors.
Signed: Thomas Garle 2 January 1765.

Appeared personally, 15 October 1789, John Garle of Paul's Wharf and Thomas Nicoll of Cole Abbey made oath as to the handwriting of the original will, it being that of Thomas Garle.
Signed by them and witnessed by George Harris and Thomas Adderley.

17 October 1789 with the will annexed, admon was granted to Thomas Garle the son of the deceased having been first sworn to administer Mary Garle wife of the deceased one of the executors dying in the lifetime of the deceased and Gilbert Michell the other executor named having first renounced the execution thereof.

[TNA PROB 11/1184 - copy of full original available at TNA Wills.]

The inscription around the enamelled edge of this mourning ring tells us that it was made to commemorate Gabriel Wirgman, who died on 12 September 1791, aged 53. A panel of woven hair has been set within it, decorated by a funerary urn on a pillar. The ring is unusually colourful, combining dark blue and white enamel with gold and hair. It is also unusual in commemorating two unrelated people within the same jewel - the back of the bezel is inscribed for Thomas Garle who died 5 September, 1789.

Gabriel Wirgman was born in 1738 in Sweden but spent most of his life in London. He was part of a family of jewellers, silversmiths and 'toy men'- makers and sellers of small personal items. Their house on the corner of St James' Place and St James' Stret was well known - the dictionary writer Dr Johnson, for example, was recorded as buying silver buckles there in 1778 and had some difficulty in finding the shop, as Johnson complained "To direct one only to a corner shop is toying with one." Wirgman married Mary Upjohn in 1768. Mary was a member of a family of watchmakers and from 1769, the firm of Upjohn, James and Wirgman carried out their business in Clerkenwell.

Gabriel Wirgman left clear instructions in his will for a mourning ring to be made to commemorate both him and a family friend Thomas Garle, a sugar merchant who had died a few years earlier. He recorded that there was a lock of Garle’s hair ‘mixed in a plait to be found in the bottom draw of my Chest’ . The ring was to be presented to Jonathan Garle, Thomas Garle’s son ‘a great friend in my lifetime’. It is possible that Wirgman had been given the plait of hair to make a memorial jewel for Thomas Garle, and having not done so before his death, decided to combine both as a gift for Jonathan Garle. The exact relationship between Gabriel Wirgman and Thomas Garle is unknown but the Wirgmans and the Garles had both married into the Upjohn family and clearly moved in the same social circles. Although Thomas Garle's will describes him as a sugar refiner, his father was listed as a watch spring maker which may explain the connection with the Upjohns and Wirgmans.

907-1888