Memorial rings have been made to commemorate people since the sixteenth century. Money was often left in wills in order for rings to be made for named individuals or to be distributed at the funeral. This white enamel and gold ring was made to commemorate the poet Anna Seward (1742-1809), known in her lifetime as the 'Swan of Lichfield'. She was a correspondent and biographer of Erasmus Darwin, knew and corresponded with Samuel Johnson, James Boswell and Sir Walter Scott, who was her literary executor and edited her 'Poetical Works' after her death.

Although Anna's father Thomas Seward had been an early exponent of education for women, his views changed with regard to his own daughter. In Walter Scott's introduction to Anna's writings, he claimed that "Literature was deemed an undesirable pursuit for a young lady in Miss Seward’s situation - the heiress of an independent fortune, and destined to occupy a considerable rank in society" suggesting that Thomas was "probably under the apprehension that his continued encouragement might produce in his daughter that dreaded phaenomenon, a learned lady."

When she died in 1809, she left money for rings valued from five guineas to two guineas to friends and relatives. Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, the celebrated Ladies of Llangollen, were to receive a ring each as was her friend Mary Powys, as a memorial to their 'thirty years of friendship and correspondence'. To Mr William Feary of Lichfield, she left ‘the sum of five guineas either for a mourning ring or any other more acceptable token of my esteem and respect for his virtues’. Mrs White, the wife of her executor, received an antique fan, her best diamond ring and a minature portrait of Anna by 'the late celebrated Miers'.

She left no instructions as to the design of the ring, leaving it, we presume, to the discretion of her executors, but this ring is still very much in the style of earlier neo-classical rings. There is no overt religious imagery but the weeping willow is a common symbol of grief and a braided section of her hair is set into a small aperture on the front of the bezel. The white enamel was chosen to reflect the fact that she had never married.