Sir William Pepperell's Presentation Silver
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:17 pm
SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL'S PRESENTATION SILVER
THE accompanying illustration displays a pair of massive old English silver tea-caddies and a sugar canister contained in a silver-mounted leather case. The canister was wrought in London in the year 1738-1739 by a goldsmith who cannot be identified in the present mutilated condition of his mark, while the caddies were made a year earlier by a London goldsmith named John Newton.
Each piece is chased in the rococo manner, characteristic of much contemporary English domestic silver and popularised by the French Huguenot refugee goldsmiths and their families. The Pepperell arms and the following inscription are engraved on the three pieces:
LOUISBOURG
SURRENDER'D
TO HIS MAJES
FORCES
17 JUNE 1745
The case has silver hinges and joints and a silver handle and plate on the cover, the latter being engraved with the Pepperell arms. Engraved on the large silver plate in front is the following inscription:
IN TOKEN OF THEIR
FRIENDSHIP HARMONY &
SUCCESS AT THE CONQUEST OF
THE ISLAND OF CAPE BRETON
PETER WARREN ESQ REAR-ADMIRAL
OF THE BLUE PRESENTS THIS CASE
WITH CANISTERS & SUGAR BOX
TO S.W. PEPPERELL BART
LOUISBOURG SURRENDER'D TO
HIS MAJES FORCES
17 JUNE
1745
Restoration has been effected in the leather case in more recent years, the handle and plate and joints on the cover having been made in 1816-1817, a fact determined beyond doubt by the London hallmark on these parts. The large silver plate in front of the case was made expressly in 1745 for the inscription.
The story of the gallant Sir William Pepperell and his New England force in the capture of the great fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton–one of the most glorious episodes in the annals of Colonial America–is familiar to all and need not be retold here. Pepperell himself was received with signal honour by King George II and was created a baronet, the first native American to receive that honour. Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who presented this silver to Sir William Pepperell, was in command of the British naval force operating with the New England troops. The Commodore, to give him his rank at that time, also presented Pepperell with a large silver salver, which descended by inheritance from the second Sir William Pepperell to his son-in-law, William Congreve, husband of his daughter, Mary Pepperell.
Sir William Pepperell, the second and last holder of the baronetcy, was a loyalist in the American War of Independence and on his departure as an exile from his native land he was permitted by Congress to take away all the presentation silver. The pieces, which are now illustrated for the first time, were bequeathed by him to his daughter, Harriet, wife of Sir Charles Palmer, second baronet, with a portrait group of himself, his wife, baby son (who died young), and his three daughters, Elizabeth, afterwards wife of Rev. Henry Hulton, Mary, married to William Congreve, and Harriet, afterwards Lady Palmer, painted by John Singleton Copley. This picture and the silver have descended as heirlooms to the present owner, Lady Augusta Palmer, of Wanlip Hall, Leicestershire.
A pair of silver candlesticks, bearing the same inscription as the tea caddies and canister, have passed by inheritance to other descendants of the second and last Sir William Pepperell.
E. Alfred-Jones
William Pepperell Sparhawk was the son of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Pepperell, first baronet, and her husband, Colonel Nathaniel Sparhawk, and by the terms of his grandfather's will was required to assume the surname of Pepperell in lieu of Sparhawk.
Source: Art in America - Volume 9 - Frederic Fairchild Sherman - 1921
Trev.
THE accompanying illustration displays a pair of massive old English silver tea-caddies and a sugar canister contained in a silver-mounted leather case. The canister was wrought in London in the year 1738-1739 by a goldsmith who cannot be identified in the present mutilated condition of his mark, while the caddies were made a year earlier by a London goldsmith named John Newton.
Each piece is chased in the rococo manner, characteristic of much contemporary English domestic silver and popularised by the French Huguenot refugee goldsmiths and their families. The Pepperell arms and the following inscription are engraved on the three pieces:
LOUISBOURG
SURRENDER'D
TO HIS MAJES
FORCES
17 JUNE 1745
The case has silver hinges and joints and a silver handle and plate on the cover, the latter being engraved with the Pepperell arms. Engraved on the large silver plate in front is the following inscription:
IN TOKEN OF THEIR
FRIENDSHIP HARMONY &
SUCCESS AT THE CONQUEST OF
THE ISLAND OF CAPE BRETON
PETER WARREN ESQ REAR-ADMIRAL
OF THE BLUE PRESENTS THIS CASE
WITH CANISTERS & SUGAR BOX
TO S.W. PEPPERELL BART
LOUISBOURG SURRENDER'D TO
HIS MAJES FORCES
17 JUNE
1745
Restoration has been effected in the leather case in more recent years, the handle and plate and joints on the cover having been made in 1816-1817, a fact determined beyond doubt by the London hallmark on these parts. The large silver plate in front of the case was made expressly in 1745 for the inscription.
The story of the gallant Sir William Pepperell and his New England force in the capture of the great fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton–one of the most glorious episodes in the annals of Colonial America–is familiar to all and need not be retold here. Pepperell himself was received with signal honour by King George II and was created a baronet, the first native American to receive that honour. Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who presented this silver to Sir William Pepperell, was in command of the British naval force operating with the New England troops. The Commodore, to give him his rank at that time, also presented Pepperell with a large silver salver, which descended by inheritance from the second Sir William Pepperell to his son-in-law, William Congreve, husband of his daughter, Mary Pepperell.
Sir William Pepperell, the second and last holder of the baronetcy, was a loyalist in the American War of Independence and on his departure as an exile from his native land he was permitted by Congress to take away all the presentation silver. The pieces, which are now illustrated for the first time, were bequeathed by him to his daughter, Harriet, wife of Sir Charles Palmer, second baronet, with a portrait group of himself, his wife, baby son (who died young), and his three daughters, Elizabeth, afterwards wife of Rev. Henry Hulton, Mary, married to William Congreve, and Harriet, afterwards Lady Palmer, painted by John Singleton Copley. This picture and the silver have descended as heirlooms to the present owner, Lady Augusta Palmer, of Wanlip Hall, Leicestershire.
A pair of silver candlesticks, bearing the same inscription as the tea caddies and canister, have passed by inheritance to other descendants of the second and last Sir William Pepperell.
E. Alfred-Jones
William Pepperell Sparhawk was the son of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Pepperell, first baronet, and her husband, Colonel Nathaniel Sparhawk, and by the terms of his grandfather's will was required to assume the surname of Pepperell in lieu of Sparhawk.
Source: Art in America - Volume 9 - Frederic Fairchild Sherman - 1921
Trev.