Summary
Birthday card from Francis Bassett-Beel to his prospective mother-in-law Grace Stephens, about 1852-1854. The card accompanied a gold friendship ring. By sending Grace the ring it is likely that Francis aimed to impress upon her his genuine desire to marry her daughter, Elizabeth Jane Stephens, and to demonstrate that he had the ability to provide for Elizabeth and Grace.
Francis Bassett-Beel was a Cornish miner from Ludock, Cornwall who migrated to the Baarmutha Goldfields in Victoria, about 1850. He built a house in 1852 at Three Mile Diggins and farmed the land. Francis and Elizabeth married on 6 March 1861 at St Enodor, Cornwall, when Elizabeth was 19 years of age. The couple returned to Australia with Grace after their marriage travelling on the 'Angelsea'.
Physical Description
Card with a four flap design.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
Clothing & Textiles, Engineering, Migration, Politics & Society, Working Life & Trades
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Presented By
Mr Francis Bassett-Beel, Baarmutha, North East, Victoria, Australia, circa 1852-1854
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Presented To
Mrs Grace Stephens, Cornwall, England, Great Britain, circa 1852-1854
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Inscriptions
On front: Should auld acquaintance be forgot? Interior top and bottom flap: All hearty greetings to my friend, / And let me gentley take / Your hand and give a postal squeeze, / A sympathetic shake. / And wish you every kind of joy / That purest hearts can know, / The highest bliss that hand can give, / While seasons come and go. / E.E. GRIFFIN Interior main card: May Good Health and Good Fortune speed you / Thackery / In fond remembrance of your Birthday.
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Object Dimensions
130 (Width), 3 (Depth), 97 (Height)
dimensions for card closed.
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Object Dimensions
320 mm (Width), 2 mm (Depth), 190 mm (Height)
Dimensions for card open and all flaps fully extended.
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Keywords
Birthdays, Friendships, Rings, Jewellery, Jewellers, Gold Mining, Gold Miners, Gold & Silversmithing, Gold Rushes, Goldfields, Cornish immigration, Cornish communities
