Pocket Watch From Shipwreck Returns to Owner’s Hometown After 165 Years

The elegant timepiece was recovered from one of Lake Michigan's deadliest shipwrecks in 1860.

Fine 19th century watch discovered at the bottom of Lake Michigan | Credit: Valerie Van Heest

The watch belonged to Herbert Ingram, a British journalist and politician from Boston, Lincolnshire, England. In 1860, Ingram died while sailing aboard the Lady Elgin, a steamship that sank after being hit by another vessel on Lake Michigan.

Ingram's body was recovered and returned to England. But his pocket watch sank to the bottom of the lake. Now, it’s been returned to his hometown, just in time - serendipitously - for an exhibition about his life and legacy.

In 1992, divers exploring the shipwreck discovered a gold pocket watch with a chain and a wax seal fob. They held onto it until last year, when they decided to approach Valerie van Heest, an archaeologist and historian who had led a state-sponsored study of the wreck in the 1990s. She also wrote a book commemorating the 150th anniversary of Lady Elgin’s sinking.

Valerie Van Heest with Ingram's watch

To confirm the timepiece’s provenance, Van Heest worked with a watch expert. The case is engraved with the name of the manufacturer: the John Bennet Company of Cheapside, England, which specialized in fine watches during the 19th century. In addition, the wax seal fob bears the initials 'H.I.' carved in sardonyx stone.

Ingram was the only person aboard the ship with those initials and the only foreign passenger. Ingram had also been a member of Parliament.

Van Heest purchased the watch and personally flew to England to donate the pocket watch to the town of Boston, England. As it happened, curators at the Boston Guildhall museum were planning an exhibition about Ingram called 'Herbert Ingram: Illustrating the News.'

Born into poverty, Ingram's life was both successful and groundbreaking. In addition to becoming a member of Parliament, Ingram founded the Illustrated London News, the city’s first illustrated periodical - thus, and forever, changing the way news was presented. He was, and still is, one of the town's most influential people.

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