A GOLD-MOUNTED HARDSTONE SEAL c1850

Seal Detail - taken from p.136 of "MATRIX"

English, circa 1850.  The seal has an oval-section white chalcedony pommel handle. The flat openwork mounts are engraved with a dedication, and the oval matrix is engraved with a Biblical quotation enclosing a cross.

The mount is inscribed: T. Alcock Esqr. M P, Kingswood, Surry / an offering from the poor. The matrix is engraved with a cross within the quotation: the wilderness / shall blossom as the rose (Isaiah 35, v.1).

Thomas Alcock (1801–66), son of Joseph Alcock of Roehampton, Surrey, was educated at Harrow and followed a political career. He sat for Newton, Lancs, as MP from 1827 to 1830, contested Ludlow unsuccessfully in 1837, and was returned for that borough when Lord Clive succeeded to an earldom in 1839, but was unseated on petition. He contested East Surrey unsuccessfully in February 1841 and was first returned for that county in 1847, without opposition, and remained its MP until 1864. His political stance was described as ‘a Liberal’ or ‘Reformer’.

Although a landowner himself, he supported a reduction in the Malt Tax and an increase in the Property Tax as a substitute; he was in favour of an extension of the franchise. In 1831 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Rear-Admiral Henry Stuart, and in 1835 bought the estate (1,821 acres, of which 400 were woodland) of Kingswood Warren, near Epsom, where he built a large mansion in baronial style. He had previously worshipped at Shottesbrook Church in Berkshire, and admiring that church, he decided to build (and pay for) an exact replica, complete with landmark spire, at Kingswood. The church took five years to build, as he had insisted that the workers should only be employed when they could not find work elsewhere.

The church of St Andrew’s was finally consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester in September 1852, and the occasion was celebrated by a ‘substantial dinner’ in a large tent to which all Mr Alcock’s ‘tenantry, labourers and the inhabitants of the district’ were invited. The Bishop’s speech, quoted in the Illustrated London News of 22 January 1853, emphasises Mr Alcock’s spiritual and temporal care of the poor. It is very probable that this seal was presented at this time, although it is not mentioned specifically. His heir, Thomas St Leger Alcock, sold the manor in 1873. After passing through many hands, the mansion later became the home of the BBC’s Research & Development Department. 

This seal is also the subject of one of the 150 seals within our publication of "MATRIX", to be found on p.136

Seal Specification

Height:  85mm

Diameter of matrix:  25mm x 20mm 

Weight:  67g