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Auction: 17007 - Ancient, British and Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 198

George III (1760-1820), 'Cartwheel' Twopence, 1797, draped and laureate bust right, lucas earle / lipscombe in field, rev. Britannia seated, born / may day / 1807 (S.3776), engraved in cursive script, good fine with minor edge bruising, nonetheless an attractive memento and historic curiosity

Lucas Earle Lipscombe was born 1 May 1807 (or 1808 according to archival records) in Union Crescent, Shoreditch, the second son of Sophia and Richard Lipscombe, a yeoman originally of Whitbourne, Herefordshire. He was baptised at the parish church of St Leonards on 21 September 1809, and as was customary for the time, he inherited his mother's maiden name as his middle name. He married Mary Ann Eastwood at the parish church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate on 21 August 1825 and would go on to father at least three children with her.

His maternal grandfather Solomon Earle (1751-1825) is also well documented owing to his lifelong career with the East India Company, beginning as a cadet in December 1767. He would progress to the rank of Captain on 21 August 1779 during the First Mahratta War, where he took command of the 2nd Battalion of the Bengal Army and was subsequently involved in the siege and capture of Ahmedabad and the actions at Pawangargh. He would ultimately return to England due to ill-health, eventually acting as Paymaster for the company at its depots in Clatterford and Chatham. His retirement settlement is recorded in the annals of the Asiatic Journal for April 1817, wherein a debate is settled regarding his pension allowance of £300 per annum. In it, he successfully petitions the company to grant him such a maintenance owing to his own infirmity, now aged 66, the guarantees it would bring to support his large family, and the long term ill-health of his wife.

An insight into this fight for financial surety in later life is further evidenced in his will, where he explicitly singled out his female heiresses, namely daughter Sophia, cautioning her not to allow her inheritance to simply be used to pay off the debts of her husband Richard, and to instead ensure that that it was always prioritised for the benefit of future female heiresses.

In respect to his grandfather's wishes, it is therefore not too surprising that Lucas Earle Lipscombe subsequently appears in the records of Poor Law removals and settlements on 7 January 1832, in which he and his family are noted for being transferred to the care of the parish of St John's, Hackney. Further research is needed to establish Lucas' later exploits.



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