A large pair of Victorian parcel-gilt silver fox hunting presentation cups, Charles Frederick Hancock for Hancocks' & Co., London, 1869

The inscription reads: ‘Presented by the Members of the Killultagh Hunt. To Thomas Robert Stannus Esq: On the occasion of his Marriage As a Mark of their Regard. An in recognition of the eminent services rendered by him as Master of the hounds. December 1st. 1869.’

Thomas Robert Stannus of Lisburn, son of the Very Rev. James Stannus (d. 1876), Dean of Ross, and his wife, Elizabeth (d. 1873), daughter of Sir Erasmus Dixon Borrowes, 6th Bt. of Grangemellon, co. Kildare was born on 21 September 1818. His first wife, whom he married in 1844 was Jane Mary Anne (d. 1845), daughter of Hans Hendrick of Kerdiffstown, County Kildare, Ireland. His second wife, whom he married at St. George, Hanover Square, London on 1 December 1869, was Margaret Elizabeth (d. 1922), daughter of Thomas Wayne of Glandare, Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales. Mr. Stannus died at the age of 89 on 8 November 1907.

‘DEATH OF MR. T.R. STANNUS, J.P.

‘We deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. Thomas Robert Stannus, J.P., which took place at Gog Magog Hills, Cambridgeshire, on the 8th inst. The late Mr. Stannus was the eldest son of the late Very Rev. James Stannus, Dean of Ross, and was 89 years of age. He was for a lengthened period agent for [the art collector and Francophile] Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], and conducted the business of that gentleman's estates in the vicinity of Lisburn. For many years he occupied a seat on the bench at Lisburn, and he was chairman of the Lisburn Court Leet, the last institution of the kind that met in Ireland. He lived for a long time at Magheraleave, Co. Antrim. The late Mr. Stannus always took a kindly interest in philanthropic work, while his literary attainments were of a very high order.’ (Belfast EveningTelegraph, Belfast, Wednesday, 13 November 1907, p. 3c)