Small mystery from 1883. What does this name say and who was Percy Cooke?

[BatsVSBelfrys]

I've picked up an antique jewellery box on my travels - it's very battered and has seen better days but that's all part of the charm I suppose!

Anyway, it has a brass plaque screwed into it. I 'think' it says A D Gough but I'm unsure of the U in Gough. Can you make it out?

Also it was made by Percy Cooke 194 Regent street. (Doesn't add London but I'm assuming this?)

Google doesn't throw up anything - can anyone assist?

Thanks!

This is his parish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Coton

Well he was rather old when he started at Oxford. Perhaps he had been off the rails for a bit? All I am saying is that a writing box for a rich school boy is highly unlikely to be a birthday present. So the date could represent something else.

And this is the rectory in Clay Coton

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142867760#/?channel=RES_BUY

I think the PPs are right when they say it’s a jewellery box, not a writing box. If that slot at the front isn’t for rings, what would its function be?

He started at Oxford in Oct 1885, so June 1883 would be lower sixth:

Sorry to be obtuse @SummerFeverVenice. Wouldn’t Arthur be in Upper Fifth in June 1883? Might June 30th mark the end of the academic year?

It's not a writing box, it's a jewellery box. The dip in the front is for a pocket watch.

It doesn’t look like any jewelry box I have seen from that era. It’s too masculine and doesn’t have the right sort of compartments.

That long slot at the front would be for writing implements, like a fountain pen.

Just to add to your list of A C Goughs, Annie Clara Gough married Henry Kilby in Islington in 1895, born about 1866. She was born in Gloucester but was christened on the 4th June so not born on 30 June unless she was nearly a year old when christened.
Edited to add she was born and christened in 1866 so not born 30 June.

I meant as a new writing box for him to take to start sixth with. As you say, he would have finished fifth by then. And he is a bit on the old side. For all we know he may have missed a year of school due to illness.

It's a jewellery box! The compartment is for a pocket watch.
Very common in Victorian times

It used to be the case that you did your A Levels at the end of Upper Sixth (like now) but then went back for an extra term (Michaelmas of next academic year) for preparation for Oxbridge entry. Did A.C.G. do something like this?

Mine is very similar inside and definitely a jewellery box; it was my grandmother's and her mother's before that.

what a lovely thread.

I am leaning towards jewellry box because the strip along the front of your box is for rings. You see it on modern jewellry boxes

Love this thread

So its Agnes vs Arthur?

Oh cross pst with brownie!

There was an Alfred Gough born 30 June 1872 so this would have been his 11th birthday...a box for a watch and other keepsakes perhaps?

I think it's less likely something like this would belong to someone who grew up to be a bricklayer @gluggle ?

Yes I do agree - also he wasn't registered with a middle name. Back to the drawing board 😂

Another possibility- Annie Cole Gough christened 4 Dec 1867 in Worcester, her father is a chemist but on her marriage is a gentleman. On one census they had a governess so reasonably well off.

This is the most delicious thread!

I'm going to start another hare, and say that I think the name is AT Gough.

That was my immediate impression from experience, and now the font @Epicureous has posted shows a T which looks much like a C, but has an extra twiddle on top. In this font, the G also looks much like a C, but with some fancy stuff to the right.

Looking at the original, we're extremely lucky to have an example of a G, so we have a good idea what a C should look like. Our mystery letter does indeed look like a "C with an extra twiddle at the top." So it's a T.

According to the 1939 census she was born in April.

We also need to consider that if AC Gough is a woman, then Gough could be her married name. 30th June could be her birthday, could also be wedding date

The box was made by a Stationery company, so it’s not going to be a jewelry box. You also would not put a pocket watch in a box when travelling, you would put it in your pocket so you could check on whether trains/coaches and such were on time or if you’ve been delayed.

The depression in the middle is probably to set your ink in an ink well when writing on a moving vehicle. The ink would normally lie on its side sealed shut in a jar in one of the larger compartments on the left or the right. The other compartment could hold sealing wafers as not all envelopes were pre-gummed back then. Might also hold a franking stamp or the prepaid penny postage stamps.

The slot at the front is where you put your pens. Although fountain pens had been invented, most upper class travellers preferred to use the dip pen.

The velvet is more for packaging rather than decoration. It so things won’t rattle about in bare wood and smash. It’s got nothing to do with femininity. Plain purple velvet is masculine.

Most jewelry boxes did not have a big old brass handle on the top for easy theft. They would usually be packed within a travelling trunk of clothing.
Oh, and you wouldn’t buy one in a stationer shop.

The placing of the name leaves space for the date. So if the date was added later it was certainly planned for at the time of engraving.

However I don't think the different styles do imply different occasions. The date looks to me as if it has been punched, not engraved. It's smaller, so maybe punching has simply been chosen by the retailer as a cheaper way to produce small, clear lettering. Many people care about the appearance of their names (think elaborate signatures), so the name is in the posh font and thus needed engraving.

Illness as a factor fits well.
> IIRC he was the youngest child in the family - not as healthy and robust as his siblings?

> It could explain the delay between the record of birth in Q3 1866 and baptism on 12th August 1867. Did a year elapse until Arthur was well enough?
> Sometimes baptisms were delayed because of lack of finances but the imminent death of a child could accelerate the situation. This is what I clumsily implied upthread as in my own family a toddler was baptised a matter of days before he died. His older siblings were later baptised jointly.
> Arthur’s parents were religious and not, seemingly, impecunious. That’s why I found the gap in time odd.

This will sound sniffy but would someone who worked on a farm or a bricklayer have owned an engraved and velvet-lined box? (Retreating behind couch wearing hard hat.)