Trinket box

A mahogany marquetry handkerchief box. with a monogram 'GMLS' inlaid on the lid (Gertrude M. Lewis Smith). The box was made for the wife of Surgeon Rear-Admiral Frank Lewis Smith (1881-1942) during the time he served on 'Caroline' from August 1916 to February 1919.

The maker was most likely the ship's carpenter Frederick William Fielder, or possibly Albert W.E. Todd. Fielder, born in 1884, was an ex-dockyard apprentice from Gosport, Hampshire, who was appointed acting carpenter on 12 April 1914. His replacement, Albert Todd was a boilermaker from Stockton, Durham, who joined the Royal Navy in August 1918.

Object Details

ID: OBJ0176
Collection: Decorative art
Type: Trinket box
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Fielder, Frederick William
Vessels: Caroline (1914)
Date made: 1916-1919; 1916-19
People: Smith, Frank Lewis; Lewis Smith, Gertrude Mfl
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 100 mm x 230 mm x 180 mm
Parts: Trinket box