I spotted an enormous Victorian china soup tureen inside a glass-fronted display cabinet in the British Library. Amongst the pastoral scenes that decorated the white porcelain was some elaborate script. This indicated that the tureen was given in commemoration of dedicated service to the Freemasons.

The first recipient was JPT, the second JP. This astonished me.  These two men were my great-great-great grandfather and his son-on-law (my great-great grandfather).

The curatorial staff at the British Library, however, couldn’t have cared less. To them, the tureen was just another shabby old scrap of china.