A pair of William III silver-gilt salvers, John Edwards, London, 1700

each on spreading circular foot and with gadrooned borders, the underside applied with cut-cardwork, the centre engraved with the Trevor arms within a Baroque cartouche,

Sir John Trevor (1637?-1717) of Brynkinalt, Denbigshire;
thence by descent

London, Queen Charlotte's Loan Exhibition, Seaford House, 1929, no.383

marks good, weight and engraving very nice. nice colour gilding. very slight wear to surface with age.
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The arms are those of Trevor, probably for the Trevor family of Brynkinalt, Denbigshire, whose most prominent member at the time that these salvers were made, and who was very likely their first owner, was the celebrated lawyer and politician, Sir John Trevor (1637?-1717).

Educated at Ruthin School and then at St. Paul’s School, London, before working as a clerk in the legal chambers of an uncle, Trevor was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1654. A little over five years later he was called to the Bar and his swift rise in the legal profession thereafter earned him a knighthood in 1671. Alongside his ambitions in the Law, Trevor became interested in politics and in 1673 was elected MP for Castle Rising, Norfolk; Bere Alston, Devon, in 1679; and for Denbigh in 1681 and 1685. By then he had inherited the Brynkinalt estate from his brother.

In May 1685 Sir John was elected Speaker of the House of Commons. It was a post for which he became memorable for the severity of his squint, a condition which confused Members when they thought that they had ‘caught his eye.’ He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1688 but he held this position only briefly on account of James II’s abdication later that year. Although Trevor lost favour under William and Mary, his knowledge of legal matters proved invaluable and in 1689 he was appointed Solicitor General to Queen Mary. Less than two years later he was reinstalled as Speaker of the House of Commons.

In 1695 Trevor was suddenly removed from office when an enquiry discovered that two years before he had accepted a bribe of 1,000 guineas by the City of London to aid the passage of a bill through Parliament, as well as taking gratuities from the East India Company.  In spite of these reverses he was not asked to relinquish the bribes and maintained his judicial positions until his death at about the age of 80 on 20 May 1717.

Sir John Trevor died intestate and his eventual heir was his daughter, Anne (1670?-1747) who was married first in 1690 to Michael Hill MP (1672-1699) and second, in 1716, to Alan Brodrick, 1^st Viscount Midleton. Mr and Mrs Hill’s second son, Arthur Hill-Trevor (1694-1771) was created 1^st Viscount Dungannon in 1765. His descendant, also Arthur Hill-Trevor (1798-1862), 3^rd Viscount Dungannon, died without issue when the title became extinct.

John Edwards started his apprenticeship with Benjamin Pyne in 1688 and became master in 1695, in Gutter Lane, London. Interestingly, his father was a yeoman of Bangor, County of Flint, close to Brynkinalt, the Trevor family estate. Although leading London goldsmiths such as Benjamin Pyne and John Edwrads were against the influx of Huguenots into the London trade, they probably employed them as craftsmen and certainly adopted their styles, see a 1725 toilet service by John Edwards, including a mirror by the Huguenot Paul Crespin sold Christie’s London, 23 June 1971, lot 109.  Sir John Trevor is known to have commissioned other silver pieces from John Edwards, and from other highly-skilled 17^th century goldsmiths, such as a set of six William and Mary silver-gilt stands and a pair of silver-gilt toilette cups and covers, maker’s mark FS over S, sold Sotheby’s London, 18 December 2007, lots 194 & 195.