A GEORGE II SILVER SALVER OF AMERICAN INTEREST

The arms are those of Henniker with those of Major in pretence, as borne by John Henniker (1724-1803), who married Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Major, 1st baronet of Worlingworth Hall, Suffolk, in 1747. Henniker was member of Parliament for Sudbury and then Dover, and succeeded his father-in-law as 2nd baronet in 1782. In 1800, he was elevated to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Henniker of Stratford-upon-Slaney, co. Wicklow.

Henniker's father was a merchant involved in the Russia trade, while Henniker himself traded with New England, importing fish, furs, lumber, leather and masts. In 1768, the son of one of his business partners, John Wentworth, the Colonial governor of New Hampshire, named the town of Henniker, New Hampshire (motto: "The Only Henniker On Earth") after his friend Sir John.

The Baron's armorials are probably those of John Minet, 3rd Baron Henniker (1777-1832) and grandson of Sir John Henniker, who succeeded his uncle (the 2nd Baron) and assumed the additional surname Major in 1822.

(See lot 161 for two dishes bearing the arms of Major impaling Dale for Sir John Major, father-in-law of John Henniker.)