Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A George III gold enamelled memorial ring, centred with an oval glazed panel enclosing plaited hairwork, encircled by a white enamel border inset with gold lettering reading: ‘G.H.M. 14 REG LIGHT DRAGOONS’, within an octagonal outline edged with black enamel, the tapering shank similarly decorated, the gold inset words reading ‘DIED AT MARTINIQUE OCT 1796 AGED 23’, ring size M (leading edge). £1000-1500

Captain George Hamilton Montgomery (1773-1796) of the 14th Regiment of Light Dragoons, was the only son of Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery of Newton, Mid Lothian. His obituary confirms his death as ‘October 1796, at Martinique, after being released from a prison ship off Guadeloupe’.

The custom of wearing jewels to commemorate a death dated back many centuries before the Georgian era, but there was a great revival in the second half of the 18th century, possibly as a result of the publication in 1742 of a popular book called Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality by Edward Young. Following this publication, a large amount of memorial jewellery began to be worn in England, with rings outnumbering all other types of mourning jewels, and these were given by all who could afford them and worn as a status symbol. Provision was often made in wills for the making and distribution of memorial rings to loved ones. The use of white enamel rather than purely black enamel, as in the example offered for sale here, was used to signify a child or young person, or an unmarried person.

See: ‘Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830’ by Ginny Redington Dawes, published by the Antiques Collectors’ Club, 2007.