Sir Thomas Powys |
|
|
Sir Thomas Powys |
|
|
|
In early 2014 Tony Pincott, still Treasurer of the Bookplate Society,
very kindly gave me an image of this bookplate thus confirming my
suspicions that Sir Thomas' youngest son Philip, my 6-gt grandfather,
had merely got his father's bookplate copied. While the details are
different the styles of the two bookplates are the same. I had not
previously known of any bookplate made by Sir Thomas.
The interesting thing is the inscription on the bookplate "Her Majesties First Serjeant at Law: 1703". In 1703 Queen Anne had been on the throne a couple of years and I wonder why Sir Thomas saw the need to advertise that he was now the senior Serjeant at Law, at the age of 55. Was this a royal appointment to be First Serjeant? Or was it that he had been a Serjeant longer than anyone else? Alternatively, what was this bookplate being used for? Might it have been for some present to Queen Anne? If so was he disappointed that he had lost his role of Solicitor General and might he have been trying to obtain some senior appointment again? I have no idea, though it may be that some archived document might bear on this.
|