I haven’t been able to confirm the makers mark, which looks like a GS. I’m really curious about the engraving on the back of the scoop: a horned creature head popping out of a crown. This was part of my family’s silver collection and I have no clue how or when it became attached to my family. Thanks!
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An antelope emerging from a coronet. There are four possibilities listed in Fairbairns which has a total of 317 Antelope crests or badges.
“My family silver” suggests the Frere Family but its reproduction is grotesque. Prefer yours.
And you are correct that is George Smith, right at the end of the 18th century’s marrow scoop.
Probably Smith IV in 1798. But all squashed up as is usual.
According to the lyrics of “Home of the Range” the deer and the antelope used to play in North America. This isn’t that animal. This is what 18th century silversmiths used to think the African antelope looked like with the twirled horn. Maybe the Kudu did.
Cheers
CRWW
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Extract from Fairbairns
Frere, out of a ducal coronet or, an
heraldic antelope's head arg., attired,
crined, and tufted of the first. 300. 4
Frere, Sir Bartle Compton Arthur, Bart.,
D.S.O., of Wressil Lodge, Wimbledon.
Surrey, out of a ducal coronet or, an
antelope's head arg., armed and crined
of the first. Tradilum ab antiquis
servare. — Frere ayme Frere. 2,co. 4
Frere, John Tudor, Esquire, of Roydon
Hall, Diss, same crest and motto.
Arthur ( see above) was the son of John Frere the Norfolk archeologist who basically catalogued the Stone Age and his aunt was Ellen Frere the noted children’s author. The Rowling of her day if you will.
I think from a timing point of view if it is a Frere antelope at all ,John, the Archeologist is probably your man. There’s a rather bad painting of him by Henry Walton. He become high sheriff of Suffolk and MP for Norwich.
CRWW
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Thank you so very much! That is very helpful. I’ll see if i can trace my ancestral roots back to the Frere family of Suffolk. I really appreciate it!
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This might get you started:
The fulsome obit’ in the Tele’ lists survivors and predecessors.
On the other hand he may be nothing to do with you. Tracing family back to the 18th century in the UK seems fairly uncomplicated as records were well kept both by the church and state.
But you must start with your own family as you are proposing and head backwards.
Earliest I can get with this family is Walter Frere (fl. 1381 – 1388), of Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, who was an English politician. He was a relative of late 14th, early 15th century MP , but the exact connection is unknown. He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Wycombe in 1381, 1386 and February 1388.
CRWW
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Thank you so much for sending that link!
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I’ve pondered if my family’s ownership of the bone marrow spoon was due to theft, or finding it in a charity shop, but maybe it was passed down through the centuries. My parents and their parents were a bit tight-lipped about their family histories. I wish I had gone through the family silver with my mom before she passed to learn all of the stories. If only I were famous and could be invited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to Find My Roots! I think I’ll give this hunt my full attention once I retire in a few years. Thanks again!
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Generally finding your roots is easier if you are not famous as the fame or notoriety tends to overshadow deducible data searches.
But be careful of sites like www.Ancestry.com which tend to hawk you private data to the next person who comes along or government.
Acquiring a family tree by buying or otherwise acquiring other peoples’ is a well respected UK tradition. I have an ancestor who was so good at it, selling portraits to those seeking some gilt-edged background, they made him an Alderman of Oxford.
If you are going to do it with silver, it’s best to buy it by the case load then store it for a decade or two to acquire that blackish attic hue.
If you’re going to become a sprig of the Frere family or have already, you may want to wander through the University of Manitoba site which sets out they came to the Americas and then left fairly quickly settling in the Caribbean where they owned two plantations each with 150 African slaves to cut sugar cane.
You at least have the head of an antelope on your silver not the head of a “blackamoor” to use the pre-woke argot. The ducal coronet is just a fanciful reach. Twice they became baronets, but these honours are not cumulative or stackable — collect enough Barts and you can trade for an Irish Earldom.
CRWW
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