LOVE TOKENS: ENGRAVED COINS, EMOTIONS AND THE POOR 1700-1856 BRIDGET MILLMORE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2015 Abstract This thesis examines the love tokens that were made by the poor from low value coins in Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The investigation has located approximately 5000 examples of love tokens in public and private coin collections in England and Wales; the majority date from 1700-1856. One hundred and eighty eight tokens in the Acworth collection from Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery were selected for detailed analysis. A digital database was created and the features of the engraved coins’ content and form were catalogued and tagged.1 The study employs the language and imagery of popular literature in order to situate the tokens within the visual and material literacy of the poor. The research benefitted from the accessibility of digitised versions of these eighteenth century sources of illustrated ballads and broadsides. The study of love tokens draws on the critical approach of E.P.Thompson who used the historical evidence of rituals to explore people’s experiences, values and beliefs. His work on customary practices enables this study to investigate the history of emotions from the perspective of history from below. The research addresses the question posed by Clare Langhamer, ‘What does a history of emotions from below look like?’ and applies it to the poor in eighteenth century Britain. Love tokens are records that were freely created by the poor. They offer evidence of the expression of emotions of those traditionally marginalised from historical accounts. The research therefore makes an original contribution to knowledge in an area of history where few investigations have been undertaken on account of the paucity of such sources. The analysis of the Acworth love tokens reveals how these tiny objects are markers of people’s lives. Love tokens marked expected events such as birth and betrothal, apprenticeship and trades. They also marked unexpected events such as imprisonment and transportation. On an initial reading, love tokens convey expressions of love and affection. Yet when viewed from the perspective of popular literature they were inscribed in the knowledge that not all hoped-for promises of love, fidelity, loyalty and remembrance would be fulfilled. 1 http://lovetokens.omeka.net. 3 Table of Contents Chapter 1. ‘A permanent record of his affection’: love tokens and the sentiment of the poor .............................................................................. 14 1.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................... 21 1.2 ‘Of small intrinsic value’: the collecting history of love tokens ....................... 22 1.3 ‘Few collectors have paid attention to this section of numismatics’: the questions prompted by love tokens .............................................................................. 36 1.4 ‘It seems desirable that while they exist these love tokens should be preserved’: sources for the study of love tokens ........................................................... 38 1.5 ‘A gift to you - From me a friend’: methods for the study of love tokens ....... 55 1.6 ‘Pray do not think of me unkind’: a critical framework for the study of love tokens 61 1.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 75 Chapter 2. Money of small value and the poorer sort of subjects ...... 77 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 77 2.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................... 81 2.2 The price of raw materials and the coins in people’s pockets ......................... 82 2.2.1 Gold coins and the poorer sorts ............................................................... 83 2.2.2 Silver coins and the poorer sorts .............................................................. 84 2.2.3 Copper coins and the poorer sorts ........................................................... 87 2.3 Production and circulation of coins ................................................................. 91 2.4 Everyday negotiations and attitudes to coins .................................................. 99 2.5 Earmarking coins ............................................................................................ 106 2.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 110 Chapter 3. The craft of engraving: writing and drawing on objects .. 113 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 113 3.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................. 117 3.2 The process of engraving ............................................................................... 118 3.3 The training of engravers ............................................................................... 127 3.4 The account book of gun engraver William Palmer ....................................... 129 3.5 Engraving love tokens .................................................................................... 131 4 3.6 Love tokens and visual literacy ....................................................................... 140 3.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 144 Chapter 4. ‘An heart that can feel for another’: love tokens and attachment to family .............................................................................. 147 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 147 4.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................. 155 4.2 ‘Pity this bleeding heart of mine’: the visual and verbal language of the heart on love tokens ............................................................................................................... 156 4.3 ‘I have receiv’d thy token and with it thy faithful love’: the language of the heart in ballads, penny merriments and everyday objects .......................................... 165 4.4 The heart: symbol of love and of life.............................................................. 174 4.5 ‘Not the mark of cold friendship’ ................................................................... 178 4.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 180 Chapter 5. Commemorations of a life: the poorer sorts and their trades ....................................................................................... 182 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 182 5.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................. 186 5.2 Eighteenth century visual culture and depictions of trades .......................... 187 5.3 ‘Let virtue be your guide’: ‘leaving home’ tokens .......................................... 196 5.4 An apprentice gunmaker’s token ................................................................... 201 5.5 ‘When this you see remember me’: the sailor’s farewell .............................. 202 5.6 ‘For the use of trade’: the urban peruke maker and the rural labourer ........ 207 5.7 Betty Hamer: a black worker from Bolton, Lancashire .................................. 210 5.8 ‘Five years in Newgate’: the gaol breaker ...................................................... 215 5.9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 220 Chapter 6. ‘Love the Giver & Keep This For his Sake’: the love tokens left behind by transported prisoners ...................................................... 223 6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 223 6.1.1 Outline of the chapter ............................................................................. 226 6.2 Convict transportation to the American Colonies 1718-1776 ....................... 228 6.2.1 Convict narratives about the American Colonies ................................... 231 6.3 Australian transportation love tokens ........................................................... 236 5 6.3.1 Characteristics of convict tokens ............................................................ 236 6.3.2 ‘The absent are to memory dear’: separation and remorse .................. 238 6.3.3 Liberty and imprisonment: the ‘hearty good fellow’ and the kneeling slave 243 6.4 American transportation love tokens ............................................................ 252 6.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 259 Chapter 7. ‘This is a token from a frend wich love from you and me shall never end’: fragments and endings ................................................ 262 7.1 History of emotions from below .................................................................... 262 7.2 Historical sources and the poor ....................................................................