Ingram Parish Sports (1923-1925)

[Credit: All images © Bennet Wiese 2020 and used with permission.]

We were recently contacted by Bennet Wiese, a young man from Braunschweig near Hanover in northern Germany.

A house owner there had passed away and so Bennet’s dad and stepmother were cleaning the house up. As they did so, they found a very interesting silver cup that was originally presented to ‘A. Little’ who was the winner of the Ingram Hill Race in the years 1923-1925. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the house owner other than he had lived in England for a period and that he was not ‘A. Little’.

Bennet cleaned up the cup and has kindly sent some photos to share, also in the hope of finding out more about its origins.

Inscription reads:

/Ingram Parish Sports./ Presented/ by many Friends/ To/ A. Little,/ winner of/ The Ingram Hill Race,/ for three successive years/ 1923-1924-1925./

The trophy bears a silver hallmark:

As far as I can work out from my research (I’m no expert, so please advise me if you think I’ve got this wrong), the hallmark reads as follows.

Maker’s mark

An ‘R&S’ gothic in three conjoined circles refers to Reid & Sons. The business was established in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1778 by Christian Ker Reid (1756-1834) and moved to London in 1874.

Standard Mark

Lion passant (this certifies the 925/1000 (sterling) silver standard in London and other British Assay Offices, so it is always present on British Sterling Silver items).

Town Mark

London: leopard’s head uncrowned (1821-present).

Date letter

(London) 1923.

In summary, the cup appears to be British sterling silver made by Reid and Sons of London in 1923. This appears to fit with the engraved dates of 1923-1924-1925, suggesting that the cup was made in 1923 and then bought in 1925 from a supplier who likely engraved it ready for presentation.

Can you help?

Do you have any information about the history of the Ingram Parish Sports Hill Race? We know that the annual Ingram Show and Sports began in 1909, as the Show celebrated its centenary in 2009.

Do you know who ‘A. Little’ was?

Any other information?

If you can help, please use the Contact Form to get in touch or use the comments form below.

Many thanks!