1773 Georgian Tree of Life Mourning Ring

A 1773 ‘tree of life’ Georgian mourning ring, set with a quartz crystal ring face atop masticated hair arranged into a branching tree, bearing the inscription: “Jean Robertson OB: 10 May 1773 ÆT: 37. Due to an unusual abundance of available genealogical info, it’s possible to thread together a rich bird’s eye sweep of the testator’s life. Jean Robertson was born 4 March 1737 to Alexander Robertson (1702-1775) and Jean Strachan (1704-1746) of Aberdeen, Scotland, the sixth of seven children. She was baptised 7 March at Saint Nicholas church by minister James Ogilvie. According to parish records, her father Alexander was formerly a bailie of Scotland (a civic officer, similar to an alderman or magistrate). Jean lost her mother at only age 9; at age 16, she also lost her sister Elizabeth. Her younger brother, James, would later become a captain with the Royal Navy. Jean herself would be drawn to the sea when she married at only 16 to David Lumsden (1717-1763), a transatlantic sea merchant 20 years her senior. According to “Scottish Transatlantic Merchants 1611-1785” by David Dobson, Jean’s father-in-law John Lumsden (1689 – 1770?), while originally from Aberdeen, had settled in Kingston, Jamaica. Jean’s husband passed away in 1763 while in Jamaica, leaving her a widow of only 26. Two years later, Jean married her husband’s younger brother, Alexander Lumsden (1730-1777), on 18 April 1765 in Kinnellar, Aberdeen. Alexander, a bachelor until 35, was a local advocate (i.e. lawyer). The couple would go on to have four children. Curiously, while Jean’s children with Alexander are meticulously recorded in parish registers, mention of her children with David cannot be found in these same records, suggesting Jean may have resided in Jamaica during her first marriage. While living in Aberdeen, Jean and Alexander appear to have belonged to a middle-class of educated professionals; the baptism records of their children include family and friends who were present as witnesses; among this circle included two doctors, a town clerk, three esquires, a commissary, a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, and two lawyers. Just a year following the birth of her fourth child, Jean passed away on 10 May 1773 at age 36, and was buried in the same church as the one in which she was baptized (Saint Nicholas of Aberdeen). Four years later, her five-year-old daughter Elizabeth and her husband Alexander would follow her in death in rapid succession, on 19 Jan and 25 Jan 1777.

Two similar ‘tree of life’ mourning rings are in the British Museum (see AF.1650 and AF.1649). Rings of this particular form—straight enameled shank, small & clean oval head—were made in the years immediately before or after 1770, and represent a transitional stage between Rococo and Neoclassical designs. The ‘tree of life’ was a particularly popular motif for British mourning rings made during the second half of the 18th century. It is both a reference to the tree of Eden (“the tree of life [was] also in the midst of the garden” Genesis 2:9) and to the tree of Revelations (“on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, … for the healing of the nations” Revelation 22:2). Between Genesis and Revelations is thus a juxtaposition of beginning and end, of life and death, and of mankind’s separation from and yearning for the divine.
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