1 The Weekly Writing Challenge this week is too good for me to pass up! It requires us to write about our favourite things and since every day, I write about beautiful things, today I’m also writing about one of my very special and favourite things The Family Locket. This has been in the family, on my Mother’s side for at least 152 years and is now entrusted to my care.
My Great Granny’s Locket
We know very little about my Great Grandmother apart from the fact that she was Spanish and we think the locket probably is too. The front of the locket is particularly beautiful, the silver being inlaid with a black stone, maybe jet.The back is covered in very delicate engraving. My Mum attributed the fact that her hair never went grey to her Spanish genes!
The front of the locket
Inside the locket are two tiny photographs, one of my Great Grandmother and the other of my Great Grandfather, the only photo we have of him.
Inside the locket
My Spanish Great Grandmother and her Husband
In the photograph, taken we assume sometime around 1860, she is wearing the locket and just look at his wonderful moustache! We treasure her studio portrait in its original card frame.
Studio portrait c 1860
2 I am told that my Granny, whom I knew well – she taught me to knit, to crochet and to play cards, but never on a Sunday! – wore the locket at her wedding on 27th April 1882 but I don’t have a photograph of that wedding. I do have a photograph of Granny and sometimes, when I pass a mirror, I fleetingly catch her image. I remember her as always smiling and I’m told I do that too!
My Granny
My Mum, married on 2nd September 1939, by her Father, The Very Reverend William Richards, the day before the Second World War was declared, wore the locket at her wedding but their honeymoon, planned to be in Paris, was a few snatched days in Blackpool instead. The photo isn’t very clear but the chain and shape can just be made out in this photo.
My Mum at her Wedding in front of Cockerham Vicarage, Lancashire
I, too, wore the locket at my wedding in Truro, Cornwall almost 30 years later in 1967.
I wore it at our Wedding August 1967
KJ, our second daughter, wore the locket at her wedding in London July 2006.
Our daughter, KJ wore it for her Wedding 2006
KJ also has Granny’s grin!
3 When my Brother and Sister-in-law were married in June 1993 in the Chapel at Truro School, the locket was V’s borrowed and old item. I know from the wedding in Senegal that not everyone knows the saying – ‘Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue’ to bring good luck to the newly wedded couple.
There is something very special about being able to lend such a precious item to someone you love. My Mum had died only three weeks before the wedding so this is a particularly poignant memory. She would have been so pleased that the locket was there again, at another family wedding and welcoming another daughter into the family.
My Brother, my Sister-in-law and my Dad
So, my three beautiful things today are all linked and all depend on the very precious and very beautiful Family Locket.
sula1968
September 12, 2012 at 3:08 pm
got goosebumps reading this, wow so special
mybeautfulthings
September 12, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Thank you so much for this! I loved writing it. 🙂
aidaweb101
September 9, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Wonderful post!Thanks for sharing!
mybeautfulthings
September 9, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Thank you! It was a pleasure to compile it. 🙂
loubyjo
September 8, 2012 at 10:16 pm
what alovely story it must be lovely to have sonething that is passed down the generations like that in our family it WAS MY GRANDADS POCKET WATCH which always went to the oldest son which was not my dad but my uncle who has oassed it on to his son , I have never seeen it sadly and unlikely to !! my mum has a family bible which has been passsed down although is huge will hpe fully follow down the generations sorry for rambling !!
mybeautfulthings
September 9, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Not rambling but sharing lovely things! We also have a Family Bible which you might like to see at http://mybeautfulthings.wordpress.com/?s=family+bible
Thank you for visiting and commenting – much appreciated! 🙂
dhphotosite
September 7, 2012 at 7:01 pm
This is lovely! I really enjoyed reading it!
mybeautfulthings
September 8, 2012 at 4:40 pm
I loved gathering all the photos and writing it so I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 5:32 pm
From V, my sister-in-law.
What a surprise to find us guest starring in your blog, Sally! And
what a story of family and love and continuity the locket tells (via
you, of course.) It touched me deeply to be offered it for our
wedding. After all, I wasn’t a daughter of the family, just marrying
into it. It meant a great deal.
I was so pretty! Patrick hasn’t changed at all, the swine!! I was
just so happy that day, so sure that I’d never done anything so
EXACTLY RIGHT in my entire life – and I still think so.
Thanks for the memories and
Lots of love xo
oh, p.s., it was 1993! xo
mybeautfulthings
September 8, 2012 at 4:44 pm
I’ve corrected the date!
dilipnaidu
September 6, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Enjoyed this post running through the times. Old photos are so nostalgic. Thank you for sharing.
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 7:13 pm
It was a pleasure to write and I’m delighted that you enjoyed it! Thank you for your comment 🙂
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
September 6, 2012 at 4:28 pm
What a fabulous keepsake! I enjoyed your post about your great grandmother and the history behind the locket. Thanks for sharing – You resemble your grandmother.
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Thank you so much for your lovely comments and the compliment about resembling my Granny! 🙂
WordsFallFromMyEyes
September 6, 2012 at 8:35 am
Wow. I thought the locket was precious & awesome enough – & then I see you all fitting into that wedding dress! That is fantastic, just utterly fantastic. I love, absolutely love things handed down in history.
I have a pillow case, yellowed canvas kind of cloth, with embroidery on it. It is a half finished job done of embroidering a donkey. I am told my Mother was half finished doing it, when she chose to end her life. It is precious, to me. I can’t imagine having it out & using it, but it sits quietly away. And when I hold it, touch it, to know that my Mother also did – I feel very connected. That wedding dress, let alone that locket, must be so buzzing with energy of all the hands that held them, each.
Your best post yet, I reckon 🙂
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Wow, thank you! I love the sound of your old pillowcase with your Mum’s embroidery on it. How you must treasure that! It is wonderful to know that other family hands have touched what you are touching – so much love 🙂
niasunset
September 6, 2012 at 8:20 am
WOW! This is great and a real family treasures! I am impressed so much. Thank you dear Sally, Blessing and Happiness, love, nia
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Thank you and love to you too. So glad you liked my treasures. 🙂
Hudson Howl
September 6, 2012 at 1:57 am
An elegant locket it is, a true keepsake. The filigree work with the dark stone a rarity this day an age and the trademark craftsmanship for that period of time. The Maltese Cross surround by the hand engraved floral patterns is curious -not your normal religious symbols one see’s on personal jewellery for that time. What’s almost as interesting as the locket itself is that you are able to document it’s life in photographs. Lockets and photographs seem to be slowly disappearing. Intriguing story that heirloom of yours holds.
mybeautfulthings
September 9, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and for your observations about the Maltese Cross which I had not really thought about! I do consider myself to be very lucky to have inherited this beautiful piece. 🙂
ewehouse
September 5, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Wow! At least 132 years… That’s a long time! Thanks for sharing these precious memories. The photos are priceless…:)
mybeautfulthings
September 7, 2012 at 3:55 pm
In fact I got the sums wrong! Maths is not my forte! It’s more than 152 years in fact. Magic isn’t it to have something handled by other loved people. 🙂
Heidi @ lightlycrunchy
September 5, 2012 at 10:54 pm
Beautiful locket and brides – all family treasures, I’m sure.
mybeautfulthings
September 7, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Indeed they are and 150ish years old – I got the maths wrong! 🙂
pamasaurus
September 5, 2012 at 10:06 pm
What a treasure!! It’s a beautiful locked, and look at all the amazing memories attached to it! You have such a beautiful family!
I adore his mustache. It’s amazing!
mybeautfulthings
September 9, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Isn’t he wonderful? And their clothes too! 🙂
Choc Chip Uru
September 5, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Your family history is so beautiful mt friend – I love how this locket has so much importance to you all and is a piece of your family always with you – beautifully written 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 9:36 pm
Thank you. It is indeed a very special piece and I enjoyed writing about it. 🙂
on thehomefrontandbeyond
September 5, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Really enjoyed this – what a wonder memory maker you have!
mybeautfulthings
September 6, 2012 at 9:37 pm
I am very lucky indeed! I do appreciate what I have been left in charge of.:)
Kathleen Richardson
September 5, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Wonderful photos and loved hearing your family history.
Keep writing…
mybeautfulthings
September 5, 2012 at 8:02 pm
I will! Thank you for the encouragement 🙂
Shelagh
September 5, 2012 at 7:49 pm
Loved reading about your family and the heirloom, Sally.
mybeautfulthings
September 5, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Thank you very much. I enjoyed writing it. 🙂
granbee
September 5, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Most generous sharing about your family and exquisite locket!
mybeautfulthings
September 5, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I loved writing that post! Much longer than usual – I got a bit carried away! 🙂