Latest news with #pocketwatch
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pocket Watch from Deadly Shipwreck Returns Home 165 Years Later: ‘Truly a Once-in-a-Lifetime Discovery'
A pocket watch belonging to the late British journalist and politician Herbert Ingram is now on display at the Boston Guildhall museum in the U.K. — 165 years after it was lost The watch sank in Lake Michigan with the Lady Elgin in 1860 'This find is truly a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,' Boston Guildhall museum's Luke Skerritt said in a statementAfter sinking to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1860 — along with the steamship Lady Elgin — Herbert Ingram's pocket watch is back home. The historic timepiece returned to Boston, Lincolnshire, in the U.K. this month, 165 years after it was lost when the Lady Elgin sank during a brutal storm after it collided with a schooner in the dark of night. The watch belonged to Ingram, a British journalist and politician who died with his son when the ship sank. It was found in the lake in 1992, but was just recently sent back to the Boston Guildhall museum, near where the Ingrams had lived, according to local online outlet LincolnshireWorld. The long-lost item is described as a 16-carat gold pocket watch that experts say stayed in relatively good condition due to the cold, low-oxygen environment of the lake preventing any major corrosion. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Thirty-two years after divers discovered the watch, they asked archaeologist Valerie van Heest in 2024 to find a way to display it in an exhibition. 'I very quickly came to the realization it doesn't belong in America,' van Heest, who purchased the watch and then donated it to the Boston Guildhall museum, told the BBC. 'It belongs in Boston where Herbert Ingram was from, where a statue of him still stands.' 'To see a watch which belonged to the man who stands in Boston's town square,' van Heest continued to the BBC, 'I think this is going to draw people in, to wonder, 'Who was this man?' ' Van Heest, who is the author of Lost on the Lady Elgin, also described the historical importance of the long-lost pocket watch's return home. 'So many people lost their lives within minutes of hitting the water,' van Heest told Fox 17, noting that the Boston Guildhall museum was planning a Lady Elgin exhibit when she got her hands on the pocket watch. 'They didn't have any physical artifacts, and here I was offering not only an artifact but Herbert Ingram's personal watch.' 'It was a serendipitous occurrence,' she emphasized. Luke Skerritt, Boston Guildhall's arts and heritage manager, said in statement about van Heest's offering that 'this find is truly a once-in-a-lifetime discovery — the sort of thing you read about in textbooks and not something you expect to read in an email on a mid-week working day.' Read the original article on People
BBC News
23-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Watch lost in US shipwreck comes home to UK after 165 years
A 165-year-old pocket watch found in an American shipwreck has been returned to its home town in the timepiece belonged to Herbert Ingram – a British politician and journalist from Boston, was recognised for his role in bringing fresh water, gas and the railways to the town, but died during a trip to the US in 1860 when the steamship Lady Elgin sank on Lake Sarah Sharpe, from Boston Borough Council, said: "The fact that this small part of him is coming back to his home town to be displayed is really special and important." The pocket watch, its chain and fob was found by divers at the bottom of the lake, in Wisconsin, in September it remained in the US for more than 30 years until it was offered to an archaeologist who was curating an exhibition about the wreck of the Lady was sailing on the ship with his son when a violent storm broke out on the night of 8 September 1860. The ship collided with another vessel and Ingram was among about 300 people who body was brought back to Britain, where his legacy has lived on. He was celebrated as the founder of The Illustrated London News, the first illustrated news magazine, and was credited, as MP for Boston, with helping to transform the town into a large industrial centre. A statue of him stands outside St Botolph's Church – the Boston Stump – overlooking the marketplace. After the watch was discovered by divers in 1992, its owner was identified as Ingram using initials and manufacturer October 2024, the divers approached Valerie van Heest, an archaeologist who had conducted a survey of the said the watch had belonged to Ingram and offered it to her for an exhibition about the Lady Elgin."I very quickly came to the realisation it doesn't belong in America," she said."It belongs in Boston where Herbert Ingram was from, where a statue of him still stands."Ms van Heest contacted the Boston Guildhall museum and later purchased the watch in order to donate it to the town."It is physical artefacts that connect us in the present to the past," she said."To see a watch which belonged to the man who stands in Boston's town square… I think this is going to draw people in, to wonder who was this man?" Coincidentally, the Guildhall had been planning an exhibition about Sarah Sharpe, the portfolio holder for heritage and culture at Boston council, said she was so surprised when Ms van Heest got in touch that she "couldn't sit down"."Since then I've been absolutely buzzing," she added. "Herbert Ingram was one of our most influential people."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
