Gold Victorian Mourning Ring

[ashbos]

Hi All,

Hopefully someone can help? i am trying to date and discover the maker of the below ring.

It has sad tale attached and i am trying to reunite it with a relative.

Any help appreciated.

http://s813.photobucket.com/user/ashbos ... w/Goldring

Ash

[dognose]

Hi Ash,

Welcome to the Forum.

Your ring was assayed at London in 1866. The maker was Joshua Horton & Son of 80, High Street, Whitechapel.

Can you share the story behind the ring with us?

Trev.

[ashbos]

Hi Ash,

Welcome to the Forum.

Your ring was assayed at London in 1866. The maker was Joshua Horton & Son of 80, High Street, Whitechapel.

Can you share the story behind the ring with us?

Trev.

Wow just what i wanted to hear!

The story is that i found the ring whilst metal detecting last week and at first thought it was a nice find, on further inspection i noticed it had the word 'UNCLE' spaced out around the outside, also on the inside it had the inscription 'Alfred Peacock died 30th May 1867 aged 23 years'.
I instantly thought this must be a mourning ring and that i must find out more info and if poss return the ring to a living relative, once home i searched the interweb and found a story describing how 5 young lads had boarded a rowing boat in the town of st. Neots Cambs on the 30th May 1867 and had got into trouble, the result was the boat sank and 3 of the 5 were drowned, Alfred peacock was 1 of the 3 that died. I have now started a family tree and have found a few possible relatives (females around the age of 15-20 years), now i have a maker of the ring i will try and connect this to 1 of the possible relatives.

Would the date of the ring be right if it is a year before the date of the inscription?

Thanks for your help and i will keep you posted.

Ash

[ashbos]

Forgot to say the ring was found in a village just outside of Bedford and Alfred Peacock was born in Ravensden which is another village on the outskirts of Bedford. I have been to Ravensden church and located Alfred's grave. This was next to his dad's so this info has helped with the family tree for Alfred's family.

Would someone in 1867 who was a farmer have travelled all the way to London to purchase a ring?

Ash

[dognose]

Joshua Horton & Son were manufacturers, they probably did not retail but supplied customers in various parts of the country, thus the ring could well have been purchased from a local jeweller.

The date letter 'l' would have been in use from the 30th May 1866 until the 29th May 1867, so the ring was not a special order. It may already have been part of a local jeweller's stock, or part of Horton's stock, but must have been made before Alfred's death.

Trev.