IN August, Bygones told how relatives of a radical campaigner had researched his history and now the article has helped a Bristol jewellers prepare for major London antiques fair.

When silver two-handled cup presented to George Dewhurst ‘by the Radical Reformers of Blackburn’ turned up at Grey-Harris and Company’s Clifton shop, they were nonplussed.

It intrigued its historical researcher Peter Hobbs who found what he needed on the Lancashire Telegraph website.

In Bygones we had featured the information gathered by his great-great-great-great-granddaughter Emma Speed and her son Monty, seven, about Mr Dewhurst, a tireless campaigner for the rights of mill workers during the 19th century who was accused of high treason (an offence carrying the death penalty) after addressing a workers’ protest in Burnley.

He was imprisoned for two years on a lesser charge. During his time behind bars he became a campaigner for inmates’ rights.

Eventually he became a Blackburn councillor and was instrumental in the creation of Corporation Park as an open space for town’s working people.

Mr Hobbs connected our story with the cup, despite the engravers misspelling his name as ‘Deuhurst’ and now its owner has given permission for the silver cup to be Grey-Harris’s star exhibit at the British Antique Dealers Association’s annual week-long fair in Chelsea’s Duke of York Square which begins tomorrow.

Mr Hobbs said: “This two-handled cup was made by George Burrows and Robert Pearce and was assayed with a London hallmark in 1832.

“A hand engraved inscription reads: ‘Presented to Mr George Dewhurst by the Radical Reformers of Blackburn as a testimony of the high estimation in which his exertions in the cause of the people are held by his compatriots.

“The reverse side depicts two hands gripped in handshake with the legend ‘The people united are omnipotent’.

“The cup is a fine example of early to mid 19th century silversmithing, with raised floral repousse work and stippling to create a contrasting matt finish to the polished areas. The interior of the cup is gilded. This item would have cost a handsome sum of money when purchased new in the 1830’s..”

Mr Dewhurst’s is buried under an imposing monument in Blackburn Old Cemetery.

Mrs Speed said: “It is just magical this cup has been found. It is another piece of a jigsaw which builds a picture of George and helps bring him to life.”