Gold mourning ring, enamelled in black and white. The hoop inscribed in Gothic lettering IN.MEMORY. OF.: with chased floral borders. Inscribed inside, made by Barber, Cattle and North, with York hallmarks for 1824-25

Gold mourning ring, enamelled in black and white. The hoop inscribed in Gothic lettering IN.MEMORY. OF.: with chased floral borders. Inscribed inside James Selby Pennington Obt. Novr. 1st 1831. Ae 88. with York hallmarks for 1824-25

Given by the Rev. R. Brooke

Part of the Brooke collection donated to the V&A in 1864. The Brooke collection includes objects relating to the Brooke family along with the Osbaldestons, who were closely related.

“The Reverend R. Brooke, Gateforth House, Selby, presented, in February 1864, a collection of articles of personal use of the 17th and 18th centuries, being the accumulated memorials of an English family for three or four generations; the most important are watches, rings, seals, lace and court dresses; the total number of objects is 396.” The gift also included 718 books for the new National Art Library. Brooke stipulated that the collection should be kept together and labelled as the ‘Brooke of Gateforth Gift’. (Eighteenth Report of the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, London, 1865, pp.40-41).

The minutes also stipulate “That Mr and Mrs Brooke, and the future possessors of the ‘Gateforth Estate’, provided they bear the name and are of the present family of ‘Brooke’, to have the privilege secured to them (by memorandum recorded in the Books of the Museum, and by possession of a Free Pass Ticket) of entrance into the Museum and Library and the Horticultural Gardens attached, on the holding of any scientific or other meetings, and on all other public occasions.’

From medieval times until the early twentieth century, it was customary to remember a deceased friend or relative by wearing a ring as a token. Wills from the sixteenth century onwards would often leave money to buy rings for mourners or to be distributed at the funeral. Mass production of mourning rings began in the early nineteenth century. Rings with standard inscriptions such as 'In memory', were often kept in stock by jewellers and personalised through the addition of inscriptions on the inside of the hoop. The custom of giving and wearing mourning rings gradually declined in the early twentieth century.

This ring was made to commemorate James Selby Pennington, who died in 1831. Rings such as this could be bought from jewellery retailers and the inscription added to personalise them. The York hallmarks show that it was actually made in 1824-5 for the jewellery firm of Barber, Cattle & North. It must have been in a jeweller's stock for six years before James Pennington's death.

Robert Cattle was originally in partnership with George Cattle, John Hampston and John Prince. He took James Barber into partnership in 1808 and the partnership was dissolved in 1814.

653-1864