Antique 1912 Sealskin Dress Sporran - Possible Titanic connection

There is always a quality in the antique sealskin sporrans and this is a fine example of a 1912 antique sporran.

The nickel silver sporran cantle is in good antique condition ( some light wear scratching as you would expect ) with a bullseye design that was popular in the 18th and 19th century.

The cantle has a pinked blue leather under slip that is matched with the same leather on the back and the original sporran strap. The back has a small military style back purse with stud. The front has three original sealskin tassels with cones strung on chains.

We have dated the sporran as the sporran was found carefully wrapped in eight of pages of the Daily Mirror newspaper from the day after the ship sank 16th April 1912. At that time it was unclear who the survivors were detailing the sinking of the Titanic.

Sadly we will never know if the original owner had any connection to the Titanic disaster, but there has to be some reason the sporran was carefully wrapped in this newspaper for over 100 years.

However, there was at least one local Speyside connection with the Titanic

Speyside History - A Titanic connection and the Countess of Rothes

As we are based on Speyside it was interesting to read Countess of Rothes was on board and had a defined role in the story of the sinking.

The Countess of Rothes (Lucy Noël Martha Dyer-Edwards), was born in Kensington, London on 25 December 1878 the daughter of Thomas Dyer Edwardes and Clementina Villiers. She married Norman Evelyn Leslie (19th Earl of Rothes) in Kensington on 19 April 1900. The Countess's husband held one of the oldest peerages in the United Kingdom, dating to before 1457, and was elected a Representative peer for Scotland, a position he held between 1906 and 1923. The Leslie family earldom was also one of the few which recognized the right of descent through female heirs. The Clan Leslie motto is "Grip Fast." Lord Rothes was a captain in the Fife Royal Garrison Artillery Militia, a lieutenant in the Royal Highland Regiment, known as the Black Watch, and a lieutenant-colonel in the Highland Cyclist Battalion. The Leslies resided in England until 1904 when they took possession of the 10,000-acre family seat in Scotland, Leslie House in Leslie, Fife.

In 1902 their son Malcolm was born - Malcolm George Dyer-Edwardes Leslie, Lord Leslie (later 20th Earl of Rothes) (1902–1975). Malcolm was followed in 1909 by a brother The Honourable John Wayland Leslie (1909–1991).

The Countess boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her parents (travelling cross-channel only), her cousin Gladys Cherry and her maid Roberta Maioni. She was travelling to Vancouver, BC, Canada to meet the Earl of Rothes who was already visiting the U.S. and Canada on business. She and Miss Cherry occupied cabin B-77.

The countess, her cousin and maid were rescued in lifeboat 8, she was later put to the tiller. As able seaman Thomas Jones put it "She had a lot to say, so I put her to steering the boat". This was not meant as a sarcastic remark, Jones seemed to admire the Countess very much and later presented her with the brass number plate from the boat, in later years they maintained a correspondence.

The Earl of Rothes died in March 1927, the total value of his Will being £2,000.

On 22 December 1927 Noel married Colonel Claude Macfie DSO in Chelsea, London.1 

Lucy died in Hove, Sussex on 12 September 1956, aged 77.  Lucy Macfie was cremated at the Downs Crematorium, Brighton, Sussex (the funeral home was Hannington Funeral Home, Brighton). Noel's remains are buried next to her first husband in the Leslie Vault in Christ's Kirk on the Green Churchyard, Leslie, Fife, Scotland.