Monday 24 August 2009

Family Spoons

Having sorted thought the jewellery I undertook to show readers of my Rambles Blog one or two pieces but before I do I thought I would blog about some of the other things I’ve been cataloguing. I have concluded such postings should also be on this blog so today’s little show is family spoons:-


This is my grandmother’s Christening spoon. Her name was Florence Katrine Spencer and she was christened in 1877.


This is my Mum’s Christening spoon. She was christened in 1909.


This is my Christening spoon. I was christened in 1949.


This is a spoon from David’s first Christmas 1986. Sadly. he was not to live long enough to have a Christening spoon.


This is Richard’s christening spoon – a replica of an Edwardian one – from GB. Richard was christened in 1988.



This is a christening spoon given to Richard by his other Godfather, Paul.



This is Uncle Eric's christening spoon. Uncle Eric was Mum's brother and died childless so GB and I inherited his things.



These are just a couple of many spoons and forks that we have which are inscribed HFB being from Nana and Grandpa’s sets – the HFB stands for Henry and Flora Body. We use them on a day to day basis. Apparently Grandpa won a number of sets playing bowls at the Childwall Abbey pub.


This spoon is a cut above the average spoon that you buy in tourist places being heavier and larger. For as long as I can remember it ‘sat’ in one of Mum and Dad’s sugar bowls.



This spoon is from my Great Aunt Maude’s first marriage to Will Noble. Nana’s sister, born Annie Maude Spencer, she married William Thomas Noble in 1897. The spoon is hallmarked London 1896 and inscribed N for Noble.



This was a wedding gift to Mum from – the E representing her new surname – from a girl in the office. There was much of a guessing game about what the gift was to be and one of the clues was that the gift ‘sat’. It turned out that it ‘sat’ in a sugar bowl, being a sugar spoon.


Caddy spoon used on a day to day basis by Mum until tea bags became the norm. It is of foreign silver.



This spoon belonged to my Great Great Great Grandmother who was born Ann Gomm Young (1819-1916). Note the number 4 beneath the initials AGY suggesting it was one of a set of six and it was obviously a gift prior to 1822 when she married James Spencer and therefore changed her initials.


And a caddy spoon which is hallmarked 1810/1 – late George III. It was a wedding gift to William Lane and Caroline Hows upon their wedding in 1813 and is inscribed WC. They were my great, great, great grandparents. The spoon was passed on to my great grandmother, Louisa Sophia Lane (later known as “Grandma Spencer”) when she was an hour old on 29th August 1849. The idea being that it should be passed on through the eldest girl in the family. She in turn gave it to her eldest daughter, my great aunt Maude, who passed it to Mum. Mum gave it to me to keep safe for Bryony and it was passed on to her some years ago. So this little spoon has come down through six generations; long may it continue to do so.

 

3 comments:

  1. CJ - That's a fascinating article on the family spoons. You have a rich little treasure there indeed. What drew me to the article was that when I was clearing-out my parents home at 26 QD, I too came across an old box and in it a silver spoon which was given to Dad on his birthdate - 17th July 1916. I know this to be so, as Dad had left a small piece of paper briefly describing the event. Documentation and dates were one of the family traits on my father's side.

    Great blog CJ!

    Eric.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I continue to be amazed lol...I love to look at these sorts of things...you never know what sort of history is in "old stuff"...I'm particularly fond of old photographs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fascinating article. I had quite forgotten about 'caddy spoons' and their deliberately truncated shape. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete