The front of the jug is engraved "From Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales, 1882" and the cover with monogram "FHL Xmas 1882".
The Princess of Wales, wife of the future King Edward VII, presented this decanter for Christmas, 1882, to Francis Laking (1847-1914), Royal Physician to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V. Entering the Royal Household in the mid-1870s, he rendered many medical services to the Royal Family, and was later on the panel of physicians when Edward VII underwent his 1901 operation for appendicitis, then a very new surgical intervention. In 1902 he was created a baronet.
The jug was later handed down through the Lakin family to his Granddaughter, who in 1940 bequeathed it to her friend, Mrs. Zoe Taylor, who was a close friend of South African Field Marshall Jan Christian Smuts (1870-1950), the second Prime Minister of that country (1919-24 and 1939-48). Mrs. Taylor presented the decanter to the General Smuts War Veterans Foundation suggesting that it be sold for the funds being collected to purchase and restore the General's house at Doornkloof, Irene.
The Stockwell firm was established in 1820, specializing in the manufacture of "presentation swords and cup and bottle mounts in gold and silver." Edward Stockwell succeeded his father in 1865, and in 1876 he won a Goldsmiths' Company competition for the design of a presentation casket, suggesting that the characterful marine mount on this piece could be his own invention. The firm lasted until 1894.
Alfred Clark started his retail business at 20 Old Bond Street in the early 1880s. In 1888 the Prince of Wales ordered from him a silver clock, to be given to the Princess on their Silver Wedding Anniversary. In 1897 he was listed as "silversmith and manufacturer of fitted travelling bags, etc., by appointment to HRH the Prince and Princess of Wales."
