A gold mourning ring for William Hewer, 1715

While searching an arable field in Wiltshire back in 2021, one of our members got a shock when he unearthed an ornate band of gold. Carrying a faint inscription inside and traces of black niello (enamel) on the outside. It was beautiful to behold and it attracted considerable attention in the field. It was quickly identified as a mourning ring (worn in commemoration of a life) and dated to 1715 by the inscription. This was just the start of a journey for the finder, to discover the background story to the ring.

The finder duly passed it over to his local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) correctly assuming the ring might fall under the Treasure Act. This allowed the experts to study the ring and unpick the story. Interestingly it turned out that the individual being commemorated was a historically significant person, a certain William Hewer, who died in December 1715. He served as a member of parliament for Yarmouth (1642–1715) and was formally the clerk of Samuel Pepys! Hewer is mentioned several times in Pepys' diaries and was apparently a close confident of the great man, to the extent that he was appointed as the executor to Pepys' will.