Joseph Bishop's seal ring.

I am so very fortunate to have in my possession Joseph Bishop's seal ring, which features the Bishop crest. I also treasure his leather writing set, engraved 'Mr. Joseph Bishop, Melbourne',which contains, amongst other things, a stick of red wax with which he would have sealed his letters with. There are also assorted pens, nibs, a letter opener and a ruler, and scraps of paper and random documents.
My great Uncle, Gordon Oakley, whose mother was Olive Jessie Bishop, daughter of Henry Bishop,died in 1999, and Joseph's writing set passed from Gordon to my mother Margaret and then to me when she died in 2005.
The "Blobby" photographs here are examples of Uncle Gordon using the seal ring to show me how Joseph would have used it.

This piece of tarnished metal is actually something very precious...it is the template for Joseph Bishop's stationary for his business back in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Therefore, it must date to pre-1853 when he emigrated to Melbourne.

IDENTITY: My great-grandmother Olive Jessie Bishop.The inscription on the back of the photograph is actually incorrect...Olive was born in 1868, NOT 1869 as written.

IDENTITY: Unknown

IDENTITY: A copy of this exact photo appears on the State Library of Victoria website, and is identified as Captain Thomas Logan of the ship "Hero"

IDENTITY: I thought for many years that this child of Bertha Hughan and Henry Bishop was my great-grandmother, Olive Jessie Bishop, born 1868. I have changed my mind, however, and now think that is actually a little boy...Roland Bishop, Bertha's eldest child.

IDENTITY: Ruth Madeline Hughan, eldest daughter of Allan Cunningham Ramsay Hughan and Phoebe Berry Hall.Born 1861( or perhaps 1860)...there has not been found a birth certificate for her, so her birth date and place are unknown. Later documents referred to her birthplace as "Goulburn, Victoria".
She was a niece of Bertha Hughan Bishop.In Noumea in 1881, Ruth married Francis Charles Holworthy, the son of Charles Wilmot Holworthy and his wife Mary Margaret. He had been baptised at St. Pancras, London, in 1837, and so was a good deal older than 20 year old Ruth by at least 24 years.
Ruth died shortly after giving borth to her first child, a son named Wilmot Francis, in 1883.