RootsChat.Com

That's very helpful, Chas.  I don't suppose you know the school's name?  I see there is a Sir John Talbot School today, but there is no reference to its history (possibly suggesting it's modern). 

The motto and crest look similar to that of the Earl of Shrewsbury.

  Yes, that's the only lead I've found.  But in what context would an ancestor of mine -- with no relation to any earls, as far as I know -- have had a badge of that family's crest?

The relatives who own this chest have certainly had some (probably insensitive) restoration work done over the years, but the wood and nails appear to my eye to be original.  I just can't gauge their age or the reason for engraving initials on such a chest. 

A relative inherited the wooden chest shown in the attached photo, which was supposedly passed down -- ultimately via the Gaskill/Gaskell family of Lancashire -- from an unknown ancestor of ours who reportedly owned schooners.  We assume the engraved "CL 1727", which is visible in the photo, refers to the ancestor, and we'll try to follow Ancestry.co.uk hints backwards from our known ancestors until, hopefully, we find someone with those initials from the early 18th C. 

Does anyone have other suggestions, specifically given the maritime angle to this mystery?  Also, is this what sea chests even looked like in the 18th Century? I am turning up much more rustic looking chests via Google Images. 

Attached is an image of the back of an old portrait among my late gran's things.  We don't know who the woman in the portrait is, although she is not my gran, not her mother, not an aunt nor (if I'm reading the date correctly as "September 12, 1920") her grandmother. 

Any idea what the second line says?  "St Monicas"?    Or is the first word just an "H",  and what follows?

Incidentally, if the second line is a location, and assuming the photo would have been taken in Alderley Edge or Greater Manchester or North Wales, does anyone have any idea what the location might be?