A superbly characterful silver chest dating to the late 1800s. Property of a Lady, the chest once belonged to Lady Maxwell of Calderwood, please see the biography below....
Jane, Lady Maxwell of Calderwood (also known as the Dowager Lady Maxwell of Calderwood, c. 1853–1942) was the widow of Sir William Maxwell (1828–1885), the 10th Baronet of Calderwood. Originally Jane Baird, she was the duaghter of Frank Baird (c. 1815–1885), a partner in the prosperous brewers and maltsters Hugh Baird & Co., 'Brewers to Her Majesty', of the Great Canal Brewery, Glasgow. Jane and her sisters were educated at home, which included Gairbraid House, Maryhill, and then Belhaven Terrace, Glasgow.
In 1880, Jane married advantageously the much older Sir William Maxwell, hereditary proprietor of Calderwood Castle and much of East Kilbride parish. As Lady Maxwell, she was chatelaine of 'eight farms ... the romantic [Calder] glen and 1,125 acres'. The couple remained childless and thus on Sir William's death in 1885, the baronetcy passed to cousins.
Two years later, Jane married George Leader Owen of Withybush (1838–1905), a Welsh lawyer, biblical scholar and sometime Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire. Although his brothers included a priest, a judge and a distinguished historian, Owen himself was reported to have languished as 'a man of great undeveloped ability'.
Jane continued to use her former style, despite remarrying, as there were no other Lady Maxwells; her successors held alternative titles. Like other contemporary Scottish gentry, she over-wintered in Biarritz and Nice until 1914, patronised charity balls and fundraising fetes, and sat on the Colonial Imperial Club's social committee. 9 In complete contrast, the Calderwood estate had been sold to the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society for (unprofitable) commercial fruit-growing in 1904.
The chest is large and heavy, made of solid oak with cast iron handles and metal banding. To the front the chest bears a brass plaque with Lady Maxwells name. The key shown is purely decorative, the original one having been lost somewhere in time.
The chest measures 65cms high x 85cms wide x 56cms deep
The chest has been sympathetically restored and retains a good amount of character and sense of history. The key shown is purely decorative, the lock is a later replacement, the original having been prised open at some point. There are losses and damage to the metal edging.
