Beschreibung:

A George III silver lidded tankard, of tapering barrel form with two sections of raised banding and an inset clear glass base, bearing coat of arms for the Huddleston family above motto 'Soli Deo Honor et Gloria' (Glory to God Alone), inscribed 'Sacred to Friendship to Mirth & mild Ale' around the top and 'From JJ to his friend Richard Huddleston Esq' around the lower bottom, the hinged cover having an openwork thumbpiece and engraved with the Huddleston crest of two arms holding a scalp aloft to the centre, with acanthus leaf capped shaped handle, maker Robert Sharp London, date mark worn, h.15.5cm (excluding thumbpiece), base dia.11.5cm, gross weight 34.5ozt Note: Although not positively identified as the same in the inscription, a Richard Huddleston (1768-1847) of Sawston had a varied career ranging from officer in the Cambridgeshire Militia to becoming a JP, Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. He is also noted for pursuing a title which had been extinct for centuries. This Huddleston family were Catholic and their ancestral home Sawston Hall was reputedly where Mary Tudor (soon to be Mary I) stayed while fleeing the Duke of Northumberland's troops after the death of her brother Edward VI.