Description

Silver Gilt Vanity Box by Garrards

The box was commissioned in 1844 for Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandmother, Jane, Duchess of Marlborough.

Signed/Inscribed/Dated Spencer-Churchill, Garrards 1844

Provenance Blenheim Palace Condition Superb

Description / Expertise

The box was commissioned in 1844 for Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandmother, Jane, Duchess of Marlborough. It was made and stamped by R & S Garrard of London and is a piece of superb craftsmanship. It is beautifully veneered in Rosewood, is brass-bound with flush carrying side-handles and lined with a stunning red velvet. The Spencer-Churchill coat of arms is inlaid on the top of the box, together with the motto Fiel Pero Desdichado. (which, translated from Spanish, means Faithful but Unfortunate, a motto of the Churchill family). It features 4 silver-gilt mounted glass decanters, a jar and a total of 8 solid silver gilt boxes of various shapes, the covers of which are engraved with Spencer-Churchill coat of arms beneath the Duke’s coronet. The box is fitted with two Bramah locks which are stamped as such. The bottom drawer contains various Ivory brushes and mirrors, together with a pair of gilt candlesticks.

The box also contains silver-gilt spoons and various steel, brass and mother-of-pearl mounted sewing, manicure and writing implements. One of the implements is a stunning letter opener which has a purple glass handle with delicate gilt fretwork. The blade is engraved with a very pretty floral design. The glass handle would originally have had some gilded decoration which has worn away. This shows that it once had regular use, possibly by Edward George Spencer Churchill who was at one time an owner of the box and was a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill. He was in regular correspondence with Sir Winston during his career as Prime Minister, so perhaps the opener was used to open some of Sir Winston’s letters!

It is presumed that many of the sewing and manicure implements have had very little or no use at all, as the Duchess tragically died in October 1844, very shortly after the box was commissioned. Jane, Duchess of Marlborough was born in 1798 and was daughter of George, 8th Earl of Galloway. She was the first wife of George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough.They married in 1819 and lived at Blenheim Palace. George was MP for the Conservative Party. He died in 1857. Although being 6th Duke of Marlborough for 17 years and Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandfather, little else is known about him as before his death he mysteriously ordered that his personal documents be destroyed. On the Duke’s death the box was handed down to his 5th son (by his 3rd marriage to Jane Francis Clinton Stewart), Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, who was born in 1853. He married Augusta Warburton in 1874 and died in 1911. The box was subsequently left to Lord Edward’s first son, Edward George Spencer-Churchill. He was born in 1876 and served as Captain in the Grenadier Guards. He was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill and, as mentioned earlier, was in regular correspondence with him during his career as Prime Minister. Although Sir Winston Churchill’s legal surname was Spencer-Churchill, he used solely the name of Churchill in public life, taking after his father, Lord Randolph Churchill. Sir Winston Churchill shares his ancestry with Princess Diana (formerly Lady Diana Spencer), of whom both families are connected through marriage, descending from the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill. The 1st Duke of Marlborough lost his son and heir to smallpox so an act of Parliament was passed to allow his title to be handed down to his eldest daughter, Henrietta Churchill, upon his death. Henrietta subsequently became Duchess of Marlborough when the Duke died in 1722. Henrietta also died without a male heir so the title was passed to her younger sister, Anne Churchill, who had married Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland. When Anne died, the title went to her son, also Charles Spencer, who became the 3rd Duke in 1733. This meant the end of succession of the Churchill name. However, it was re-introduced into the family in 1817, by the 5th Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer. He wished to bear the name of his famous ancestor the 1st Duke, so applied, by royal licence, to add Churchill to his surname, becoming George Spencer-Churchill. The double-barrelled name has remained in the family to this day. Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, had a younger brother John, whose son, also John, became the 1st Earl of Spencer in 1765. Therefore Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, was a descendent of the 1st Duke of Marlborough and a distant relative of Sir Winston Churchill.

The makers of the box, R&S Garrard & Co, were the Crown Jewellers and responsible for the upkeep of the Crown Jewels between 1843 and 2007. They also made dining and tableware, many pieces of which are in the Royal Collection. Garrard merged with the well-known Jewellers Asprey in 1998 to become Asprey & Garrard. Jade Jagger became Creative Director for the company in 1996. Garrard also currently make trophies for many sporting events including, amongst others, the Dubai World Cup, the Americas Cup and the Premier League Trophy.

Additional information