Gauge, depth gauge

This depth gauge, marked 'W Gray', forms part of the contents of a fine early 19th century toolchest. The history of this toolchest is uncertain. Many of the tools in it are marked 'W Gray'. A metal name plate found in one of the drawers carries his name, the word 'pattern' and the address, 'Cavendish Grove, Wandsworth Road'. Gray was living in this area in the mid 19th century. However, many of the boxwood planes, stamped with his owner's mark, were made twenty or thirty years earlier. This depth gauge may have been made by Gray to check the depth of holes that he had bored.