each of typical form, the tapering end chased with military trophies among foliage and flowers and on a matted ground, with vacant cartouche, the top tube with central rose, thistle and shamrock chased knop, the tubing with spiral-fluting and foliage stamped sections, each engraved with an inscription below a coat-of-arms, each with ceremonial tasseled cord, in fitted oak case with applied plaque engraved with a name
the trumpets each 70.5cm high, the case 76cm wide, total weight 63oz 17dwt, 1,675gr (2)

The inscription on each trumpet reads 'Henry P Banks High Sheriff of Cumberland 1868 [sic] A Birthday Gift from his brother Edwin'. The coat-of-arms are those of Banks, as borne by Henry Pearson Banks (1844-1891). The inscription on the cover reads 'Henry P Banks Highmoor'.

Henry Potter is first recorded in 1841 at 27 Marsham Street, in Westminster, and by 1852 was known as a military musical instrument maker, producing a wide variety of instruments in silver, brass and copper. Silver examples are obviously rarer than examples in brass and copper but a silver bugle engraved with the badge of the Royal Fusiliers has appeared recently on the market (Bonhams, 14 February 2024, lot 755). In line with the military tradition of Henry Potter the present trumpets are very much in the form typical of examples made through the 19^th century by various makers and mostly intended for military or ceremonial purposes. Perhaps their form and decoration can be traced back to the famous instrument maker William Bull who produced at least two examples in silver, one now at the Ashmolean in Oxford (museum number WA1947.191.154) and the other owned by the Warwickshire County Museum Service. Each of these examples show very similar decoration with foliage and flower garland, spiral-fluting and with a central foliage knop. The same decoration is a feature of known 19^th century examples such as one of 1813 now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (object number NG-NM-561). This example is attributed to William Sandbach, a trumpet maker, and William Troby, a London silversmith. It was presented by William I of the Netherlands to his Life Guards.

Two other examples worth nothing are both of a more similar vintage to the present pair of natural trumpets. One was made by Henry Keat and Sons which is now in the collection of the Royal Armouries (object number XVIII.90) and another in the collection of the Museum of the King’s Royal Hussars.

This present pair of examples, though of the typical military form, down to the chased garland of military trophies, was originally presented as a birthday gift to Henry Pearson Banks (1844-1891) by his brother Edwin Hodge Banks (1847-1917), as recorded on the engraved inscription which appears below the engraved representation of the Banks family coat-of-arms. The gift of the trumpets was also meant to commemorate the elder brother’s year as High Sheriff of Cumberland, though the engraver transposed the date from 1886 to 1868. The event of Banks being invested as High Sheriff is recorded by the London Gazette of 9 March 1886 noting the presence of The Queen’s most Excellent Majesty in Council as well as all the Sheriffs appointed for the year 1886.

Henry Pearson Banks was trained to be a lawyer, and though he kept chambers at the Temple in London, there is little evidence of his practicing law. His being appointed to various posts, such as High Sheriff of Cumberland suggests he maintained a strong connection to Cumberland, the county of his birth. He came from a family with much success through the 19^th century, starting at the beginning of the century when the family were weavers in Keswick. Other members of the extended family were to establish businesses such as a pencil manufacturers, exporters and linen manufactures. By the end of the century Edwin Hodge Banks had been made bankrupt and the family estate, Highmoor House in Wigton, had been sold.

The original house at Highmoor was built for Joseph Hodge, who was to marry into the Banks family. As he had no children the house was inherited by William Banks. The house was originally a five-bay stuccoed pedimented villa on which construction commenced around 1817. The Banks family variously extended and improved the house through the century, first in around 1870, when it was extended to the west and had a belvedere added. Later, in 1885, the belvedere was extended in height and turned into a bell tower, complete with carillion.