A Victorian silver presentation centrepiece and stand

Paul Storr, London 1838

Footnotes

Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 7th June 2007, lot 152.

The inscription reads:
'Presented to Lt Colonel the Earl of Winchilsea & Nottingham by the Officers, non-commissioned officers & privates of the East Kent Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry in testimony of their grateful sense of his unremitting and liberal exertions to promote the best interests of the regiment during a period of eight years that it was under his lordship's command, Octr 5th 1838.'

George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea, 5th Earl of Nottingham (1791-1858) was named a deputy-lieutenant for the county of Kent in 1820.
In his position in the House of Lords he was virulently anti-Catholic and firmly opposed to the Catholic Relief Bill brought in under the premiership of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. In an open letter the Earl accused Wellington of acting surreptitiously, intent on 'the introduction of Popery into every department of the State.' After a series of (later published) private letters to each other tempers had escalated, and Wellington challenged the Earl to a duel. Wellington fired first and missed (intentionally, some reports claimed), and, after receiving fire, the Earl raised his arm deliberately and fired into the air. He afterwards published a letter expressing regret for the offence caused, and the matter was considered closed.