Description
Yorkshire pottery money box or bank. Named and dated Mary Ann Davson Born May 9th 1840.
This money box is a miniature replica of the Methodist Chapel in the town of Mexborough.
EXHIBITION….IF THESE POTS COULD TALK.
The Mexborough Methodist Chapel was built in 1825 at the height of Wesley mania which was sweeping the land especially in the working class areas of England and Wales.
The Chapel building is still standing with its distictive chimneys, it is now the home of a Chinese Take-away! How times have changed.
All the Mexborough money banks I have seen bear a name and a date and this fine example of English naive pottery is no exception …dated 1840 and bearing the inscription “MARY ANN DAVSON BORN MAY 9TH 1840. Mr. Keith Docker from Yorkshire has undertaken much research with these wonderful items and has to date located and documented about forty of them, he confirms that they are always named and dated, the date can refer to the date of birth ,the day of the Christening or commemorates a birthday. Keith has informed me the earlest example of these boxes is dated 1838 and the latest 1853. At first I thought that the name Davson may be a mis-spelling of Davison or Dawson as this is a common occurence on early pottery. However on checking I found that a Mary Davson resides in the appropriatley named USA town of Church Falls. Maybe she is a distant relation to our Mary Ann Davson.Also several Davsons did crop up on the census returns who were residents of Yorkshire in the 1840’s and their name can be traced back to the 1650’s many residing in Yorkshire. I hope that Mary Ann with her Methodist upbringing and with her gift of a money box to encourage thrift survived the rigours of the 19th century in her Yorkshire home.This gem of a money box is a heartfelt gift from the past and it these wonderful pieces of naive art in ceramics from the past which give their gift to us today.