Genuine Government Black Box - used by parliamentarians. The...

Hammer

£750

Genuine Government Black Box - used by parliamentarians. The red and more familiar ones are for straightforward government papers for Civil Servants. Black boxes are much more special and rare. This item is lockable with working key, in fantastic condition, dates to around 1919 and was the property of John D Gregory. Embossed in gold leaf J D Gregory with George V seal and monogram and states "Special Mission To Rome". John Duncan Gregory CB CMG (26 May 1878 – 29 January 1951) was a British diplomat.

Gregory was the son of Sir Philip Gregory. He was educated at Eton College and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1902. He was promoted Second Secretary in 1902. From 1907 to 1909 he worked at the British Embassy in Vienna. He later became Chargé d'Affaires in Bucharest, was posted to the Holy See in 1915, and was promoted Counsellor in 1919. In 1920 he was posted to the Foreign Office in London as Senior Clerk and Assistant Secretary, and in 1925 he became Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

He was the principal figure in the "Francs Case" of 1928, in which he and two other Foreign Office employees were accused of having used their position to speculate in foreign currencies. While he was cleared of doing anything illegal, he was held by an inquiry to have acted in a manner incompatible with his post and was dismissed from the Diplomatic Service.

Gregory was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours[1] and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1925 Birthday Honours.

Inside it states "John Peck and Sons, Nelson Square Blackfriars - manufacturers to HM Stationery Office. The firm of John Peck & Son, despatch box makers, was established in the early 1840s by William Peck (1820-1865). He was born in Clerkenwell, the son of John Peck, a dyer, and his wife, Harriet. The 1841 Census lists him as an apprentice, living at 26 Noble Street, City of London, the house of Joseph Summerfield, a pocket book maker. The latter's female servant was Maria Capon (b. 1820) who at St. John, Hackney, on 4 February 1843 was married to William Peck, pocket book maker. They had six children, the eldest being John Peck (1843-1922) who succeeded to the business upon his father's death in 1865, by which time the Pecks had been makers of dressing cases for several years and had moved from Clerkenwell to Nelson Square, Southwark. From about 1870 Peck's was known for its manufacture of writing desks and despatch boxes. John Peck was married at St. Saviour's, Southwark, on 14 March 1868 to Victoria Louisa Hunter (c.1845-1928). Their second son, George Frederick William Peck (1872-1953) joined the family business in the 1890s after which it was styled John Peck & Son. George F.W. Peck, who was married in 1901 to Florence Mary Watson (1874-1956) and was subsequently (1911) described as a fancy leather goods manufacturer, continued to run Peck's until his retirement and the firm's closure about 1930.