John Samuel Hunt

The Duke of Roxburghe’s Tureen

John Samuel Hunt

The Duke of Roxburghe’s Tureen

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A Victorian Soup Tureen on Stand
London, 1845
Maker’s mark of John Samuel Hunt

Length: 55.88 cm, 22 in.
Weight: 9,81.2 g, 292 oz.

The magnificent tureen consisting of a main body & cover, liner, and stand, of shaped oval form with gadroon and shell rims, leafy handles and feet, the finial cast as a ducal coronet. The tureen engraved on body, cover and base with a coat of arms, stamped underneath Hunt & Roskell, late Storr Mortimer & Hunt and numbered 2250.

The arms are those of Innes-Ker for James Henry Robert Innes-Ker (1816-1879) 6th Duke of Roxburghe, accolé with that of his wife Susanna Stephenia, lady of the bedchamber to Queen Victoria, and only child of Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Dalbiac, whom he married in 1836. The grand quarter arms include the motto of the Scottish Order of the Thistle (Nemo Me Impune Lacessit), and the pendant badge of the Scottish Nova Scotia baronets with the motto (Fax Mentis Honestae Gloria).

DESCRIPTION SILVERSMITH BIOGRAPHY

Portrait by Thomas Richard Williams, c. 1860s

Innes-Ker was the only surviving child of the 5th Duke of Roxburghe and the former Harriet Charlewood (c. 1778–1855). Before his parents' marriage in 1807, his father was widowed from his marriage to Mary Wray, eldest daughter of Sir John Wray, 12th Baronet. After his father's death in 1823, his mother remarried to Lt. Col. Walter Frederick O'Reilly CB of the Royal African Corps on 14 November 1827.

His maternal grandfather was Benjamin Charlewood of Windlesham in Surrey and his paternal grandparents were Sir Henry Innes, 5th Baronet and Anne (née Grant) Innes. In 1823, at the age of seven, he inherited his father's titles. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

In 1840, he was a Knight of the Thistle. He also served as Lieutenant General of the Royal Company of Archers, a governor of the National Bank of Scotland and Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1873 until his death in 1879.

Hunt & Roskell, a firm of manufacturing and retail jewellers and silversmiths, was founded by Paul Storr in 1819, trading as Storr & Co. (1819-22), Storr & Mortimer (1822-38), Mortimer & Hunt (1838-43) and then Hunt & Roskell (1843-97). Hunt & Roskell had retail premises at 156 New Bond Street and a manufactory at 26 Harrison Street, near Clerkenwell. John Samuel Hunt, who had assisted Storr from the start, continued as a partner until his death in 1865, when he was succeeded by his son, John Hunt (d.1879). Robert Roskell, formerly a watchmaker and merchant of Liverpool, joined in 1844 and remained in the firm until his death in 1888. In 1889 the firm was taken over by J.W. Benson and continued in business as Hunt & Roskell Ltd until c.1965. Trade card in Heal Collection (Heal,67.383) advertises "Hunt & Roskell, Late Storr & Mortimer, Jewellers, Goldsmiths & Silversmiths to The Queen, The Emperor of the French, &c. &c. &c..." Heal's annotations on mount: "Britten's 'Clock & Watchmakers' gives: - Storr & Mortimer, 13, New Bond St. 1830-42. 1826-7 L. Directory gives: - Paul Storr, silversmith, 13, New Bond St. 1827 L. Directory gives: - Storr & Mortimer, gold & silversmiths, 13 New Bond St. 1832 L. Directory gives: - Storr & Mortimer, jewellers, 13 New Bond St. 1838 L. Directory gives: - Storr & Mortimer, silversmiths, 13 New Bond St. 1839 L. Directory gives: - Storr & Mortimer, silversmiths, manufactory, 13 Harrison St. 136 New Bond Street and manufactory, 26 Harrison Street, Gray's Inn Road."