page_title: Thomas Bigge
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Bigge / Later life
caption_attribution_description: "Fig. 11. Staatskrone der Königin Victoria. Dieselbe wurde im Jahre 1838 von Mr. Rundell zu Bridge angefertigt und ist mit 3093 Juwelen geschmückt, darunter der beühmte Rubin, der dem Prinzen Eduard von Wales, genannt der schwarze Prinz, von Don Petro, König von Kastilien, gegeben worden sein soll. Als Modell diente die Krone König Karls II. […]." Imperial State Crown of the United Kingdom
context_page_description: Thomas Bigge was an English political writer and activist, in later life a partner in Rundell, Bridge & Co., goldsmiths.
context_section_description: Bigge became a partner in Rundell, Bridge & Co, the goldsmiths founded by Philip Rundell and John Bridge. From 1830, when a new partnership was drawn up, Bigge owned 25% of the goldsmiths; after Bridge's death, he was in charge of the firm with John Gawler Bridge.
  The business was involved with prominent artists. In particular, the "Shield of Achilles" project began with William Theed the elder, who died in 1817; and then passed to John Flaxman. The chasing itself was carried out by William Pitts II. Bigge presented a "Shield" to the Royal Society of Literature in 1849, with a portrait of Flaxman. The firm made a new crown for Queen Victoria, less than half the weight of the one made for George IV.
  Philip Rundell withdrew capital from the firm in 1823. He died in 1827, leaving a fortune that went off the probate scale, which stopped at £1,000,000. Over half the estate went to Joseph Neeld. Money left to the Bigge family exceeded £100,000; according to James Losh, writing in his diary after news of the death, the bequests were some compensation for having had to put up with a "tyrannical miser". The Gentleman's Magazine reported that Rundell, unmarried and without a home, liked to spend his time with his Brompton niece (i.e. Maria Bigge) or Elizabeth Bannister, another niece.
  The important plate business was largely outsourced to William Bateman II, in 1834. Rundell, Bridge & Co. stopped trading in 1843. The partnership was dissolved in 1845.
  Bigge is described as of "Brompton Row" (1817) and later "of Bryanston Square"; also of Beddington, Surrey c.1835.
caption: Queen Victoria's crown, made in 1838 by Rundell, Bridge & Co.
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