1817 Georgian Mourning Band for Colonel Fish

A c.1816-17 late Georgian mourning band, with a London assay for the year 1816, and bearing an interior inscription, “Colonel Fish died 31 Mar 1817 aged 78”. The 18k yellow gold wide band, weighing a hefty 8.5 grams, is decorated with openwork “IN MEMORY OF” gothic lettering, relief-applied against a grained diaper ground, which is further capped with trims of black and white enamel as well as roped and milgrained gold. The inner trim of milgrain is a charming ‘green’ gold (gold alloy with increased silver content), reflecting a Georgian fondness for decorative colored gold. ‘Colonel Fish’ refers to Colonel Benjamin Fish (1738 – 1817), an esquire of 21 South Panton Square, London. Not much is known about the deceased’s life, but his passing was extremely well documented: a society death notice for “Colonel Benjamin Fish” “in Panton-Square” was placed in the Monday, 7 April 1817 issue of the Hampshire Chronicle; likewise, the “Deaths in and near London” section of “The Monthly Magazine” for 1817 makes note of a Colonel Benjamin Fish in Panton-Square. The last will and testament of Colonel Fish is preserved in the National Archives (Kew, England). From this document, it can be presumed that Benjamin Fish possibly never married or had children. The short and rather poetic will left a hundred pounds to “my friend QMS [Quartermaster] Forbes […] who has most assiduously attended me during my serious illness”, and also a hundred pounds to “QMS[Quartermaster] Ring with whom I have lodged many years and who has nursed me during my illness with the greatest tenderness”. Five hundred pounds was left to a cousin, William Fish, while three hundred pounds was left to William’s two sons. The remaining of the estate was left to a Sir Francis (surname illegible) of Fordington, Dorset. According to parish records, Benjamin Fish was buried at St. James Church, Westminster on 4 April 1817. In Britain, wide band mourning rings came into fashion c.1800, replacing the slim bands of the 18th century. Until about 1810, designs for these wide bands were informed by neoclassical taste, and generally featured plain enamel-inlaid lettering without further flourishes. Resurgent interest in fanciful ornamentation after about 1815 led to a last ‘golden era’ of mourning band design, during which jewelers applied a broader variety of decorative techniques, textures, and motifs to these rings. A mourning band with similar raised appliqué lettering against a textured ground can be found on p. 96 of “Rings 1800-1910” by Verlaine Davies.

A note: there’s a minor discrepancy in Colonel Fish’s age—the ring is inscribed age 78, while the death notices state age 79. This could be explained by a possible later-in-the-year birthday (for example, if Colonel Fish was born in late 1738, his passing away on 31 Mar 1817 could be counted as age 78 or 79 depending if his birth month was disregarded; as in, “in his 79th year” vs “age 78”). Minor discrepancies in spelling or dates is not uncommon in mourning rings.
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