Ring

The inscriptions and ornament on this ring commemorate the life and death of King George III. The hoop is inscribed with the motto of the order of the Garter, on a royal blue background. It should perhaps be considered as part of a small and as yet, not fully understood group of rings in the form of Garters. The earliest ring of this type known dates from 1626 and commemorates the death of Lancelot Andrewes, the Bishop of Winchester and Prelate of the Order of the Garter but other examples date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III in 1348 and is the oldest order of chivalry in Europe. The insignia of the Order have developed over the centuries: starting with a garter and badge depicting St George and the Dragon. A collar was added in the sixteenth century, and the star and broad riband in the seventeenth century. However, rings were not included in the formal insignia.

Elias Ashmole, the seventeenth century antiquary, suggested that the rings were distributed to the friends and relatives of newly inaugurated knights whilst a nineteenth century historian believes them to be gifts to commemorate a deceased Garter King of Arms. A ring in Winchester Cathedral which is in the shape of a dark blue enamel Garter with a diamond set in the bezel seems to have been made as a mourning gift. The inside of the hoop is inscribed 'Memorarere Novissima' (Remember the last things) with the initials LA and a skull. This may have been one of the 20 rings bequeathed by Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester (died 1626) and a member of the Order of the Garter. His will states that 'I bequeath the sum of three hundred pounds to be bestowed in Rings of gold upon such of my good friends as I am bound in thankfulness to remember, the names I will set in a list to my will annexed.'

This ring is inscribed with the key dates in George III's life and may have been made for a friend or family member or perhaps as a form of public mourning. Rings have been bequeathed in wills since the 14th century as a remembrance of the testator but from the 17th century, they became increasingly personalised, including the name and dates of birth and death of the person commemorated.