Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A Victorian 18ct gold snuff box, 1848, of rectangular form with bowed ends, the hinged lid engraved with a presentation inscription to Captain John Mullen, reading: ‘Presented to CAPTN JOHN MULLEN BY THE PENSIONERS, 2ND GLASGOW DISTRICT As a token of their respect and gratitude for the Amiable and Gentlemanly manner in which he unweariedly attended to their welfare DURING HIS COMMAND’, within scrollwork border, the slightly concave sides and base similarly engraved throughout with C-scrolls and engine-turned panels, and with cast thumbpiece, by maker David Pettifer, Birmingham hallmark, in original fitted case, accompanied by associated paperwork, length 9cm. £1,800-£2,200

By family descent.

Captain John Mullen (1802-1854) was born on the island of St Martin. He attended the Royal Military College in Sandhurst from 1818, then served in the 1st Battalion 1st Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots), deploying to the West Indies from 1826-1835, and marrying his wife Johanna Anne Armstrong in 1828. They were to have 10 children together.

In early 1836, John was redeployed to Ireland where he joined the reserve companies. Later that year, he resigned from the Adjutancy of the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment and took on the temporary role of Aide de-Camp to Lt. General Sir John Buchan K.C.B. of the 32nd Regiment of Foot, serving as a temporary replacement for a Colonel Smith. In April 1842, seeking an opening after his duties as Aide-de-Camp ceased, he applied for the position of State Officer of Pensioners, Glasgow district, which, with glowing references from his previous boss Colonel Mansel, he secured. The Mullen family left Ireland in 1843 with fortuitously timing, as the winter of 1844 saw the failure of the potato harvest in Ireland, commencing years of famine, starvation, and mass emigration from Ireland.

In his new role in Glasgow, John was responsible for organising the regimental pensioners, and overseeing their general wellbeing and financial security, a role he appeared to carry out with the highest integrity. The gold box, offered for sale here, was presented by the Pensioners of the 2nd Glasgow District after John’s retirement from the role and the sentiments in the presentation description echo the high regard in which he was held. The handwritten letter (illustrated above) from Captain John Mullen and addressed to the Pensioners of the 2nd Glasgow District, written on 16 October 1848 and referencing his retirement from the role, reads....”I must thank you for the congratulatory sentiments expressed therein on my recent appointment to the important office of Governor of the Glasgow Prisons and Superintendent of those of Lanarkshire..…’..and continues… ‘that in the exercise of the duties of that office (his previous position as State Officer of Pensioners, Glasgow) through which you were placed under my care and management, I have done so in a manner to secure your attachment and esteem’…

In 1847 John was appointed to a new responsibility as Governor of the North Prison Glasgow where he served until his death in 1854.