This piece depicts the death of Lord Francis Villiers, a Royalist, who was killed in 1684 by Cromwell’s roundheads.
Villiers was the family name of the Duke of Buckingham.
The connection between this family and the 4th Hussars is through Colonel John Berkeley who married Barbara Villiers, and who, in 1685, was commissioned by James II to form “The Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment of Dragoons”.
Made in London in 1863 by Hancocks The Crown Jewellers, this piece was originally the “Alexandra Prize” (a horse race for maiden Arabs) presented by two brothers, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and the Honourable Rustamjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, and run in Bombay on 6 Feb 1864.
The centrepiece came into the hands of the Regiment around 1871. It is said to have been found in a Bazaar in Meerut and bought by Officers serving with the Regiment at that time. It was after this that the silver plates were added around the base.
