"Forget Me Not"

Farewell! farewell! my ever dear!
   Although to part must be our lot;
Oh wipe away the starting tear,
   And think of the Forget-me-not

Last night we sat in yonder bower —
   We walk'd beside that lowly grot —
We pluck'd a lovely simple flower,
   The brilliant blue Forget-me-not.

And when in distant lands I roam,
   Far from this dear and hallow'd spot,
And exile from my native home,
   Oh! think of the Forget-me-not.

When I return in happier hour,
   And visit thy beloved cot,
Again we'll walk and pluck that flower,
   The Lover's flower — Forget-me-not.


Mary Ann Browne (1812 - 1845)


The hallmark on this Edwardian silver brooch shows that it was made by silversmith Alfred James Cheshire of Tenby Street North in Birmingham and assayed in Chester in 1904, making it just over a hundred years old.  I bought it at an antiques fair for £6 in the mid-70's when I was a teenager.  It's typical of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when the motifs used in jewellery conveyed hidden meanings.  This one has a Forget-Me-Not flower (remember me) entwined with oak leaves and acorns (strength, maturity and wisdom), so it would perhaps have been given by a man to his sweetheart.