Closed, it gives almost nothing away: a small rectangular gold case, engraved on both sides with fine geometric patterns. Open the hinged cover of our Georgian memorial locket, though, and you are suddenly in the presence of two people.
On one side, an inscription:
George Charles Lord Vernon, Died 18 Nov 1835, Aged 55
Lady Warren Vernon, Died 17 Sep 1837, Aged 53
Opposite, under the original glass, lie two carefully arranged locks of hair, one pale and one dark, bound with fine gold wire and kept side by side.
Who were the Vernons?
The inscription names George Charles Venables-Vernon, 4th Baron Vernon, and his wife Frances Maria Warren, Lady Vernon, the daughter of the naval officer Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren. The family seat was Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire, one of England's important Restoration country houses and today in the care of the National Trust.
Lady Vernon died less than two years after her husband. The locket was made shortly after her death in 1837, most likely for their only child, George John Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon. He had succeeded his father in 1835 and went on to become a scholar and collector devoted to Dante, spending long periods in Florence. It is easy to imagine a son carrying his parents together in a single jewel.
Hair and memory
Hair was the most personal material a Georgian or Victorian jeweller could work with. It does not decay, and unlike a portrait it is literally part of the person. Mourning jewellery of the period often combined hair with inscriptions of names and dates, turning a small object into a private memorial that could be worn every day.
Here the two locks are not woven into a pattern, as later Victorian hairwork often was. They are simply laid side by side, which makes the locket feel unusually intimate.
Worn smooth by hand
The most affecting detail is on the outside. The engine-turned engraving is still crisp around the edges, but at the centre of both sides it has been worn smooth, exactly where a thumb and finger would rest. This was not an heirloom locked in a drawer. It was held, turned and rubbed, again and again, probably over many years.
The engraving itself was cut on a turning engine, a machine that could cut perfectly repeated patterns into gold. The same technique later became central to guilloché enamel and the great luxury workshops of the 19th century.
The details
- England, circa 1837
- 15K gold with engine-turned decoration
- Original glass and hairwork
- Approximately 23 x 20mm
- Excellent antique condition, with characteristic smoothing to the exterior from historic handling
Jewellery with a named, traceable provenance like this is rare. View the Vernon locket, or explore more antique pendants and lockets.