A VICTORIAN SILVER-GILT TWO-HANDLED CUP AND COVER, ROBERT HENNELL & SONS, PROBABLY RETAILED BY HANCOCKS & CO, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO HENRY HUGH ARMSTEAD, LONDON, 1874

richly chased with borders and surface decoration of stylised foliage and flowers, the body applied on one side with a cast panel depicting Boudicia rousing members of her tribe before battle, views of the Channel and a stone circle in the distance, engraved on the other with a coat-of-arms, crest, coronet, motto and supporters, cast openwork handles, the detachable neck applied with winged masks below the detachable cover

Henry Stapleton, 9th Baron Beaumont (1848-1892)

J. M. Robinson, 'Carlton and the Stapletons: The History of a Recusant Family', The Connoisseur, Vol. 202, September 1979, p.19

Top section of the cover slightly sunken, the bottom rim of the cover with a dent that would benefit from restoration as it impacts the bayonet fitting. Otherwise nice colour, crisp decoration and engraving, impressive scale and distinctive Armstead design. For further queries on this lot please contact the Silver Department directly on +44(0)207.293.5558.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The arms are those of Stapleton, Barons Beaumont for Henry Stapleton, 9^th Baron Beaumont, who was born in Curzon Street, Mayfair, in 1848. He succeeded to the title and estates upon the death of his father, Miles Thomas Stapleton, 8^th Baron Beaumont, in 1854. The 9^th Baron died of pneumonia without issue in 1892 when he was succeeded by his brother, Miles Stapleton.

Henry Stapleton succeeded his father when he was only six years old and came of age in 1869 while serving in the 1^st Life Guards. That same year, at the height of the Victorian Catholic revival, he became a Roman Catholic. His family fortune finally at his disposal, Beaumont employed the Catholic architect Edward Welby Pugin to make extensive alterations in the Gothic style to Carlton Towers, his family seat in Yorkshire. Unfortunately, Lord Beaumont's means were unequal to his architectural ambitions and, having served with the 17^th Lancers during the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and was present at the Battle of Ulundi in 1880, he retired to live abroad far away from his creditors. Rumours circulated during 1883 that he was in the United States in search of a wealthy bride; Press reports there described him as 'an Englishman whose lineage is as ancient as his resources are limited and his appearance commonplace.' (Newark Daily Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Wednesday, 22 August 1883, p. 1c)

Eventually returning to England and even more deeply in debt, Lord Beaumont married in July 1888 Violet (d.1949), only daughter of Frederick Wootton Isaacson (1836-1898), M.P. for Tower Hamlets Stepney, by his wife, a lady who had formerly traded as a fashionable milliner in Regent Street under the style of Madame Elise. All was not well, however, for within a year the couple had separated. The English Press was as discreet about the affair as the American was not:

'AN ENGLISH SENSATION.

'Lord Beaumont Seeks a Separation From His Willful [sic] Young Wife.

'LONDON, April 8 [1889]. – One of the most sensational scandals which has ever disgraced English society is about to come before the world. The Right Hon. Henry Stapleton, the ninth Baron Beaumont, descendant of the last king of Jerusalem, has filed a bill in the house of lords proposing to dissolve a marriage which he contracted only last year with a pretty brunette, the daughter of Mme. Elise, the great court dressmaker, who a year or two ago sold her business for over $2,000,000 and married Mr. Wootton Isaacsons [sic], M.P. Lord Beaumont's friends say, and it is believed to be the truth, that he is not responsible for the scandal. He discovered immediately upon his marriage that his wife's ideas as to the holy state of matrimony and marital duties generally were, to put it very mildly, of a character to make any man's hair stand on end. It did not have that effect in his lordship's case, because Lord Beaumont, although only 40 years gold, is very bald.

'Lord Beaumont had many fits, chiefly of anger, but they had no effect upon his amazing young wife, who defied his authority, jeered at his jealousy, made mirth of his person, sneered at his diminutive rent roll, and scoffed at his ancestors, the king of Jerusalem not excepted. Lord Beaumont arrived at the conclusion that his wife must be insane, but as she had an income of $35,000 a year in her own right he bore with her for a while. Ere long, however, evidence accumulated under his hand which left him no option but to take measures for dissolving the ill stared union.

'The charges upon which the bill for divorce are based are so revolting and unnatural that they cannot be specified here. For the credit of human nature it is hoped at least some of them may be destroyed. The lady's friends do not deny that she has peculiar ideas, and that her ways are startlingly unconventional. They put them all to the account of the wild days of her youth, when she roved the African desert, hunting and riding for days together, something with no female companions.'

(The News, Frederick, Maryland, Monday, 8 April 1889, p. 1e)

For further information regarding the alterations at Carlton Towers, see Mark Girouard, The Victorian Country House, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1971, ch. 24, pp. 150-154.