Description
the rectangular casket with rounded corners, and brass lock escutcheon, the slightly domed cover set to centre with oval glass panel with hair beneath with applied brass engraved Scottish royal crown above and ribboned garter below inscribed ''A LOCK OF QUEEN MARY'S HAIR WHICH BELONGED TO THE LATE LADY BELHAVEN', the interior of the casket simply lined with watered cream silk
Dimensions
15.5cm x 12cm x 9cm
Footnote
Provenance:
Part of the lock found by 8th Lord Belhaven in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh (the main proportion bequeathed to Her Majesty Queen Victoria - see notes below)
The widow of 8th Lord Belhaven
This lock bequeathed to 9th Lord Belhaven
Gifted to his father in law John Watson (later Sir John Watson 1st Bt.)
Thence by descent to Sir Simon Watson 6th Bt.
Lyon & Turnbull Scottish Silver & Accessories, 26th August 2008, lot 262
Private Scottish Collection
Exhibitions:
'Scottish National Memorials - a record of the historical and archaeological collection of the Bishops Castle'', catalogue edited by James Paton, Glasgow 1888, item 192, lent by John Watson (later Sir John Watson 1st Bt.) where described:
'Small Casket, containing a portion of the hair of Queen Mary. it belonged to the late Lady Belhaven and formed a small portion of the lock subsequently bequeathed by Robert, eighth Lord Belhaven, to Her Majesty the Queen, for a note on which see p. 45
(192) Lent by JOHN WATSON'.
Notes:
The lock of hair contained with this casket was part of a larger find made by the 8th Lord Belhaven in his position of High Commissioner of Scotland. The main part of the lock was subsequently gifted to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and formed part of her collection of Queen Mary Stuart relics.
The lock was found within his official residence at Holyrood in a secret drawer of a bureau in an envelope with the handwritten note saying 'a lock of my own hair' and signed 'Mary R'. The signature was later authenticated as that of Queen Mary Stuart, believed to have been compared with original documents held in the Royal Collections.
When its importance was realised, the bequest by Lord Belhaven to Queen Victoria was made and the lock split in two.
It is also believed that before this a butler at the Palace took a small section of the hair and possibly gave it as a token to a lady in waiting of the Palace. This piece sold within these rooms, lot 173, 31st March 2001, now in the Hawick Museum and Scott Gallery.
Great discussion on the locks of hair (and their colour) was given in the 1888 Scottish National Memorials Exhibition catalogue.
This exhibition was one of the early types of national historical exhibitions and began a trend in multi discipline exhibitions which followed on through the 19th century and could indeed perhaps be considered the forerunner of the modern day museum exhibitions. Similar exhibitions were held in 1894, 1911 and 1932 and all proved successful and of interest to the public, as the opportunity to see such collections had not been given before and the structure of public museums had not yet been fully established.