Pair of Marquess of Clanricarde De Burgh-Canning Carriage Badges

A fine pair of English bronze signal cannon, the tapering 36 inch two stage barrels set upon original mahogany carriages with bronze fittings and ...

Pair of antique English naval cannon each with a tapering three stage barrel flanked by plain trunnions, with a knob shaped cascabel button before a shaped rectangular raised vent and ending in a 3 1/2” bore muzzle, enclosing a removable conforming wood plug, circa 1800. Stood upon a naval type bronze-mounted four wheeled wooden carriage, including its wedge shaped quoin with knob handle. The Earls of Lonsdale, Lowther Castle, Cumbria, presumably by descent to Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944), until sold by his heir and brother, Lancelot, 6th Earl, as part of the contents of Lowther Castle, Maple & Co. Ltd./Thomas Wyatt, Tuesday 14 April 1947 and two following days, lot 558: ‘A pair of Old Gun Metal Cannons on teakwood carriages, 3ft. 6in. long’. Mrs. P.M. Adie-Shepherd, sold Christie’s, London, 29 May 1970, lot 96. Lowther Castle is a castellated mansion built by Robert Smirke between 1806 and 1814 for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1757-1844). It was constructed on the foundations of the former 17th century family seat, Lowther Hall, but it was only in the early 19th century that it was afforded the name ‘castle’ in keeping with the Europe-wide fashion for romanticism and which was promoted by influential characters such as William Beckford at Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire in England and by the writer Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, Roxburghshire, Scotland. While it’s not known when these naval cannon were acquired for Lowther they would have been entirely fitting in the castle or its approaches and it’s likely that they were in place soon after the castle was completed, or perhaps acquired later by the 5th Earl. A tantalising possibility is that the cannon were originally aboard the East Indiaman Lowther Castle which was active in the early 19th century. HUGH CECIL LONSDALE, 5TH EARL OF LONSDALE (1857-1944) AND THE DEMISE OF LOWTHER CASTLE In 1882 at the age of 25 Hugh Lonsdale (1857-1944) unexpectedly inherited the earldom and with it the extensive Lonsdale estate, including tens of thousands of acres of Cumberland and Westmorland and coalfields at Whitehaven. However, despite his spectacular inherited wealth – he was suddenly one of the wealthiest men in England, over the course of his lifetime he managed to decimate the family fortune. He led a full and colourful life, one of adventure and luxury. An early intrepid escapade took place in July 1888 when, as part of an expedition called the Scotch Naturalist Society, he set embarked on horse sleigh...

Each of these oak Glastonbury chairs has a pointed back and a fixed rectangular seat. The shaped arms and X-frame legs are attached with protruding pegs, giving the impression of a c...

A pair of 16-inch floor standing globes by Gilman Joslin, each set into a cast-iron tripod base with an acanthus-leaf baluster support on three b...

Model of a Royal Carriage, realistically detailed with a carved wood and gilt decorated coach with one working door. Resting on a metal suspension under...

This large and substantial pair of cast and cold-painted locomotive identification plaques show no foundry marks, but are presumed to have been cast in South Africa in circa 1910. Th...

A 14 point star Badge made by George Ward of Manchester and assayed in Chester in 1843  Engraved with "Presented to PCR George Heathcote by members of No...

One oak bookend with a polychrome Badge of the Royal Air Force and bearing the motto : Per Ardua ad Astra" (Latin) - Through Adversity to the Stars The other bookend with a polychrome badge or shield of three crowns of Alsace the badge of no 341 Squadron, formed in 1943 out of the Free French Flight, who had been operating in the Western Desert. Its French name was Groupe de Chasse III/2 “Alsace”. provenance : collector of war memorabilia...