Irish Silver Freedom Box

Here is the second piece of silver to fall outside the time periods prescribed by this blog - an Irish silver freedom box made by James Kennedy in Dublin, circa 1776:

Irish silver freedom box, Dublin, James Kennedy, c. 1776

The box measures 3 1/8 inches in diameter and is 1 1/4 inches high with a weight of 4 oz 6 dwts.  The presentation inscription on the bottom of the box reads:

The Corporation of Weavers Unanimously present their Grateful Thanks to their Worthy Brother Gorges Lowther Esq.r in Approbation of his Uniform and truly Patriotic Conduct in Parliament: and his Laudable Endeavours to promote the Manufactures of Ireland.  Dublin, 1st April 1776.

Inscription on base of freedom box

The box is hallmarked to the underside of the lid, the inside of the base, and to the side of the box with the harp crowned, the maker's mark I K for James Kennedy, and Hibernia.  As was typical for much of the latter part of the 18th century, the box is lacking a date letter.

Hallmarks on freedom box

The side of the box is engraved with the names of the Master, George Fuller, and the Wardens, William Arnold and Henry Williams.  William Cotter Stubbs' article "Weavers' Guild" lists the names of the masters and wardens of the Weavers Guild, and shows that George Fuller was master in 1774 and 1775, with William Arnold and Henry Williams as wardens for the latter year (85).  Mr. Stubbs also mentions that the swearing in of new officers of the Guild took place on May 1 each year, so George Fuller's tenure as Master would have ended May 1, 1776, just shortly after the dedication date on the box (62).

Master and Wardens

According to Leigh Rayment's website, Gorges Lowther was an Irish Member of Parliament, sitting for Ratoath from 1739 until 1760, and for Meath from May 1761.  Gorges Lowther was born November 5, 1713 and died February 21, 1792.  MJP Grundy's study of the Lowther family makes a very intriguing Jane Austen connection: one of Gorges Lowther's great-granddaughters, Maud Lowther, married a Thomas Legh.  Mr. Legh owned Lyme Park in Shropshire, which served as the home of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 Colin Firth BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. But I digress.

James Kennedy appears to have been a prolific maker of Irish freedom boxes.  Several freedom boxes by him are in the John V. Rowan collection of Irish silver at the San Antonio Museum of art, including a gold one engraved with the arms of New Ross.  You can see another example of a freedom box presented by the Corporation of Weavers here.

In the afore-mentioned article, Mr. Stubbs states: "In the second half of the eighteenth century the honorary freedom of the Guild was conferred upon a number of distinguished persons, on account of their position in the State, their services in Parliament, or their support of the trade and manufactures of the country" (78).  According to the inscription on the box, Gorges Lowther was granted freedom of the Guild for the latter two reasons.  What Mr. Lowther's "Uniform and truly Patriotic Conduct in Parliament" was or what his "Laudable Endeavours" were and how they promoted "the Manufactures of Ireland" I suppose is lost to history.

Lid of freedom box

Sources:
Grundy, MJP. "Lowther." Paxson Family.
       freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com, 2007. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
Rayment, Leigh. "Irish House of Commons 1692-1800." Leigh Rayment's 
       Peerage Page. Leigh Rayment, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
Stubbs, William Carter. "Weavers' Guild." The Journal of the Royal Society
       of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series 9.1 (30 Jun. 1919): 60-88. JSTOR.
       Web. 24 Jan. 2014.