JEWELLERY, chiefly rings and lockets, have sometimes been worn in memory of a deceased person.

Mourning rings often bear the name and date of death of the person.

They were frequently paid for by the person commemorated.

People would leave instructions in their wills for specific sums of money to be used by the executors to buy rings, and the recipients would be named.

The use of mourning rings was common by the mid-16th Century.

This gold and black enamelled mourning ring carries the inscription WM BYSHOP OB:24 July 1753 AE:40.

It commemorates William Byshop who died on July 24, 1753, aged 40.

William lived in Milborne Port and the ring presumably belonged to his wife Sara, who would have had it made after his death.

Mourning was both a demonstration of regret and sign of respect.

In the 18th Century widows would wear black for a year, seal impressions were black wax rather than red and mirrors were covered in the household.

The ring is in the reserve museum collections at the Somerset Heritage Centre where objects can be viewed by appointment.