LONDON.- An auction on November 28 will reveal how the personal and family belongings of a United States President came to be in Surrey.

Ewbank’s Auctions of Send will present a dedicated sale of dozens of pieces of silver, jewellery and other effects with direct links to Grover Cleveland, the only US President to have served two terms that were not consecutive.

The lots include one of his most personal possessions, an inscribed gold chain and locket, presented as a gift from his daughters Ruth and Esther, containing photographs of the girls, one of whom, Ruth, was to die tragically young, while the other, Esther, was the first and only child born in the White House to an incumbent President and his wife.

Another is a double portrait miniature photograph frame (shown above) in sterling silver holding facing photos of President Cleveland and his wife, Frances.

Many of the lots relate directly to Esther and Ruth, including specially designed and inscribed silver spoons celebrating Cleveland’s presidencies, as well as christening wares presented as gifts to Ruth and Esther.

A diamond-encrusted watch belonging to the President’s wife, Frances, is also included in the sale, as is a diamond brooch worn by Esther at her debut.

One of the most fascinating pieces is a gold-cased miniature compass, which by family repute was presented to Cleveland when he first took office as President “to help him find his way around the White House”.

Photographs and other effects give clues to how the consignment ended up in Surrey: Esther Cleveland (1893-1980) came to England and married Captain William Sidney Bence Bosanquet of the Coldstream Guards in Westminster Abbey in 1918, later giving birth to two daughters, Philippa (later Foot), the philosopher and lifelong close friend of the author Iris Murdoch, and her elder sister Marion (1919-2016), who lived in Surrey and ended her days in Weybridge.

The consignment comes from a legacy and gifts from both sisters.

“It’s not every day that you get to catalogue such a wealth of material linked to one of the world’s most powerful men,” said auctioneer Chris Ewbank, “and you certainly don’t expect items to turn up that are both so personal and yet linked to so public an institution as the Presidency of the United States and the White House. We have done a lot of research on the collection.”

Mr Ewbank is particularly interested in the unique collection of spoons, many with carved crests depicting the Capitol in Washington, the bust of Cleveland himself and the dates of his election victories, as well as the names of his children – one even has a portrait of Ruth as a baby carved into the bowl of the spoon.

“The pieces directly linked to Ruth are particularly effecting because of what happened to her,” explained Mr Ewbank. “Her father was 54 when she was born in 1891 – between his two presidencies – and the event, as his first child, caused a national sensation. Having captured the public’s imagination in this way, Baby Ruth, as she affectionately became known, was never out of the public eye.

“Always a sickly child, she contracted diphtheria at New Year 1904 and died five days later, aged just 12.

“The fact that possessions with such intimate links to Ruth are included in this consignment shows that her sister Esther, and thereafter the niece she never knew, Marion, treasured her memory.”

The consignment also includes a large number of lots of silver and glass from the Bosanquet family.

The dedicated auction, titled Collection of US President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) and his descendants, comprises 86 lots in all, some including multiple pieces.

“Individually, many of these lots are valued at just a few hundred pounds or even less, but as an historic archive they are priceless,” said Mr Ewbank.

They can all be viewed online now in the dedicated sale catalogue at www.ewbankauctions.co.uk