AN IMPORTANT VICTORIAN GOLD-MOUNTED IVORY AND ENAMELLED OCTAGONAL CITY OF LONDON FREEDOM CASKET, on shaped onyx and ebonised plinth, the casket with eight paired tiger's eye columns joined above by beaded and foliage ornament and applied between with crossed native spears and minature elephant tusks, the domed top with an oxidised naked female figure emblematic of Africa seated on a brickwork barrel from which silvery waters flow and holding a cornucopia pouring fruits over a trunk, her turban set with a diamond. The sides applied with an enamelled circular boss painted with a map of Africa within a foliage cartouche, presentation inscription, the coat-of-arms of the City of London, the monogram HMS, the monogram CONGO and twice with the Royal Standard crossed with the Stars and Stripes, Chester, 1886, maker's marks apparently GE and GP, retailed by George Edward and Sons, in original silk lined velvet case, stamped 'George Edward and Sons, Manufacturers, No. 1 Poultry London, and at Glasgow'

SIR HENRY MORTON STANLEY 1841 - 1904 Sir Henry was born on 28th January, 1841, at Denbigh, North Wales, the illegimate son of John Rowlands and Elizabeth Parry. At birth he was registered as John Rowlands and grew up initially in the care of his maternal grandfather, Moses Parry, and later in the St. Asaph workhouse, where he suffered under the severity of the notorious workhouse master, James Francis. At St. Asaph, he acquired an adequate education and a strong religious faith, but the humiliations of the workhouse allied with his mother's neglect of him left deep impressions on his character. At the age of fifteen he ran away from the workhouse and in 1858, sailed as a cabin boy from Liverpool to New Orleans. There, he met Henry Morton Stanley, a benevolent merchant, who took charge of him, gave him his name and announced his intention of providing for him. For several years after the premature death of his benefactor, Stanley led a vaired life, but it was his experiences as a soldier in the American Civil War that inspired him to write his first newspaper articles. In 1867, Stanley was employed by Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the New York Herald, as a special correspondent on the campaign that Britain was undertaking against King Theodore in Abyssinia, and was the first person with the news of the fall of Magdala in 1868, even before the British Government knew of its capture. He was in Madrid covering the Spanish Civil War for the New York Herald when in 1869 Gordon Bennett summoned him to Paris and commissioned him "to find Livingstone". Stanley set out in March 1871, and it was rumoured at the time that Livingstone was in the area of Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, and this is where Stanley discovered him in November, greeting hime with the immortal words, "Dr Livingstone I presume". The meeting of the two greatest African explorers took place on the 10th November and they soon became good friends. Stanley's last expedition in Africa was undertaken for the relief of Emin Pasha, Governor of the Equatorial Province of the Sudan, in 1887. For the rescue of Emin Pasha he received a unique gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society, and in the same year the Royal Presentation Jewel from Queen Victoria. These were sold by Christie's, on the 25th March, 1986, along with other associated medals and memorabilia for and #25,920 respectively. After his final return from Central Africa, Stanley married Dorothy Tennant at Westminster Abbey, on July 12th 1890, and they adopted a son called Denzil. In 1892, he became a re-naturalized British subject and sat in Parliament as Liberal Unionist member for North Lambeth from 1895-1900. In 1899, he was made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Stanley died in London in 1904 and was buried at Pirbright after a service in Westminster Abbey, his simple epitaph reading, "Henry Morton Stanley 1841-1904", with his African name, "Bula Matari", (Breaker of Rocks) and the one word "Africa". The collection now offered relates principally to the period immediately following his final return and his marriage. THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

AN IMPORTANT VICTORIAN GOLD-MOUNTED IVORY AND ENAMELLED OCTAGONAL CITY OF LONDON FREEDOM CASKET, on shaped onyx and ebonised plinth, the casket with eight paired tiger's eye columns joined above by beaded and foliage ornament and applied between with crossed native spears and minature elephant tusks, the domed top with an oxidised naked female figure emblematic of Africa seated on a brickwork barrel from which silvery waters flow and holding a cornucopia pouring fruits over a trunk, her turban set with a diamond. The sides applied with an enamelled circular boss painted with a map of Africa within a foliage cartouche, presentation inscription, the coat-of-arms of the City of London, the monogram HMS, the monogram CONGO and twice with the Royal Standard crossed with the Stars and Stripes, Chester, 1886, maker's marks apparently GE and GP, retailed by George Edward and Sons, in original silk lined velvet case, stamped 'George Edward and Sons, Manufacturers, No. 1 Poultry London, and at Glasgow'

Details

Provenance

Henry Morton Stanley Esq., and thence by descent

Literature

Illustrated London News, 22nd January 1887, p.93, illustrated

John Culme, The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths 1838-1914, Woodbridge, 1987, Vol. 1, p.136

Lot Essay

The inscription reads 'Presented to Mr. Henry Morton Stanley by the Corporation of the City of London together with the Honorary Freedom of the City of London, Guildhall 13 January 1887'

The firm of George Edward and Sons appear to have succeeded J. W. Benson Ltd. as suppliers of freedom caskets to the City of London. Although established in Glasgow in 1838 they opened a London branch at 19 Poultry about 1874 and moved to 1 Poultry in 1880

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