LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

The monogrammed inlay in the centre of the tables is that of Margaret Smith Burges, wife of Sir John Smith-Burges, 1st Bt., and later second wife of John, the 4th Earl Poulett, of Hinton House, Somerset.

Margaret Smith-Burges (1744-1838) was the daughter Ynyr Burges, Secretary and Paymaster of the East India Company and in 1771 married John Smith (1734-1803) who in 1790 assumed the name Smith-Burges, in 1791 was a Director of the East India Company and in 1793 was created 1^st Baronet Smith-Burges of East Ham, Essex. It is from this time that the present tables, with monogram ‘MSB’, date and it is likely that the Burges name was added to secure the fortune of Ynyr Burges who died in 1792. Resident of Bower House, Havering, Margaret Smith-Burges was a regular visitor to Bath in her first marriage and was painted by celebrated artists including Romney and Lawrence in the 1770s and 80s. In 1816, at the age of 72 Margaret married John Poulett, 4^th Earl Poulett, twelve years her junior. She died in Brighton in 1828 at the age of 84.