Dartmouth History Research Group Royal Jubilees in Dartmouth

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             Dartmouth History Research Group

                   Royal Jubilees in Dartmouth

© Gail Ham for the Dartmouth History Research Group, April 2022, free to download
from our website www.dartmouth-history.org.uk

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Royal Jubilees in Dartmouth

On 6 February 2022, Dartmouth Bell Ringers celebrated a historic occasion – the 70th anniversary of
the Queen’s accession on 6 February 1952, and the start of her Platinum Jubilee year. To mark the
Platinum Jubilee, DHRG has been researching the history of Royal Jubilees, and how they were
celebrated in Dartmouth.

Origins of “Jubilee”

The English word “jubilee” comes from the Hebrew “jobel”, a ram’s horn, blown to announce a sacred
year occurring every 50 years:

        “You shall count seven sabbaths of years, that is seven times seven years, forty-nine years, and in the seventh
        month on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement, you shall send the ram’s horn round. You
        shall send it through all your land to sound a blast, and so you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim
        liberation in the land for all its inhabitants. You shall make this your year of jubilee.” (Leviticus 25: 8-11
        (New English Bible))

In Jubilee years, Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery would be freed to return to their
ancestral lands, with all obligations annulled, and mortgaged land would be restored to its original
owners. The text expresses an idealistic vision of the land of Israel regularly returning to its God-given
condition; scholars debate whether such measures were actually put into practice in ancient Israel.

Early Christian thinkers viewed the Jubilee of the Hebrew Scriptures, occurring every 50 years, as
prefiguring the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, 50 days after Christ’s resurrection. The
remission of debt was interpreted spiritually to mean God’s forgiveness of sins, and the number 50 was
seen as having great mystical significance. In a Jubilee Year, God extended special grace to mankind.

England’s first Jubilee Year

The first Jubilee Year in England was eight centuries ago, in 1220-1221. It was declared by Stephen
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, to mark the translation of the remains of the martyr St Thomas
Becket from the tomb in Canterbury Cathedral crypt to a magnificent new shrine in the Trinity Chapel.
Following Leviticus, he chose a date precisely 49 years, seven months and ten days after Becket’s
murder on 29 December 1170. Pilgrims visiting Becket’s shrine in that first Jubilee Year gained special
spiritual benefits and were offered a papal “indulgence” remitting 40 days of penance. Thereafter,
Jubilees were held at Canterbury every 50 years, until the cult of St Thomas Becket was abolished at the
Reformation. The 1370, 1420 and 1470 jubilees drew thousands.

Popes soon followed suit. The first Papal Jubilee Year was introduced in 1300, offering pilgrims to
Rome that year a “plenary indulgence” – full remission of sins. The next was in 1350 and Papal Jubilees
soon moved to every 25 years.

Henry III, England’s longest reigning medieval monarch

The translation of St Thomas’ relics in 1220 was a splendid international state occasion. One of those
attending was the young king, Henry III, who had just been crowned for a second time, at Westminster
Abbey. His first coronation had taken place at Gloucester in 1216 when half the kingdom was
controlled by the eldest son of the King of France, to whom rebel barons had offered the crown. Barely

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nine years old when his father King John died, Henry was rushed onto the throne in a makeshift
ceremony - it was said the little boy was crowned with a chaplet of flowers because the crown jewels
were lost or pawned.

Despite having attended the lavish celebrations of Becket’s Jubilee as a boy, Henry III did not mark his
own Jubilee as King. On 27 October 1266, as he completed his fiftieth regnal year1, the kingdom was
again in the midst of civil war, following Simon de Montfort’s rebellion. De Montfort himself had died
at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, but his supporters continued to hold out at Kenilworth Castle in the
longest siege in English medieval history. Nor did Henry III mark the fiftieth anniversary in 1270 of his
second coronation.

Henry III died on 16 November 1272, having reigned for 56 years. His reign is notable in Dartmouth’s
history for his grant in 1231 of the right to hold a market, and his grant in 1270 to “the burgesses and
merchants of Dertemue” (concerning rights of protection from distraint for debt), which shows that the
town was well-established by this date, with a degree of independence as a community.

Edward III, Dartmouth, and the first Royal Jubilee in England

The first royal Jubilee was celebrated by Henry’s great-grandson, Edward III. He succeeded to the
throne aged fourteen on 25 January 1327, following the deposition (or abdication) of his father, Edward
II. At this period merchant ships from Dartmouth were frequently requisitioned to meet the crown’s
needs, and in 1341, Edward III granted his “beloved burgesses” significant rights and freedoms,
including the right to elect a mayor, in return for finding and equipping two war vessels whenever
required, at their own cost. From this time onwards the figure of a King was included within the town’s
coat of arms (see the front cover of this article).2

In 1362, Edward III marked his fiftieth birthday by issuing a general pardon enabling immunity from
prosecution for all except the most serious offences against the crown, perhaps the first occasion on
which a royal anniversary was recognised as an event of political significance. An even more
comprehensive pardon was issued to mark the attainment of his Jubilee on 25 January 1377. His 50th
regnal year, 1376-7, fell amidst political crisis. The war with France was no longer going well and the
Prince of Wales (Edward the Black Prince) died in June 1376, leaving his young son Richard, aged ten,
the heir to the throne. The King himself was ill. Concerned about the country’s future government,
Parliament refused to agree to any more direct taxes.

The King’s counsellors turned to the Royal Jubilee. When the new parliament opened in January 1377,
the Chancellor, Bishop Houghton, declared that the King’s attainment of his Jubilee after his recent
illness was a mark of divine favour, signifying a new state of grace for the nation if he and his people
were reconciled. In an echo of the religious significance of jubilee, Edward granted a comprehensive
pardon for those who had committed serious offences up to the beginning of the fiftieth year of his
reign; Parliament granted taxation – the first of the late 14th century poll-taxes. Although there’s no
mention of the Jubilee as such in Dartmouth’s records, Thomas Asshenden and John Brasuter
represented the town in that Parliament, and perhaps took part in the great banquet that ended the
session.

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  At that time regnal years began at the date of coronation rather than accession.
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  Edward III also owned the lordship of the manor of Dartmouth from 1327 until 1341, when he granted it to Guy de Bryan.
In 1337, the “water of Dartmouth” ie the port, was given to the new Duchy of Cornwall, created for the monarch’s eldest
son, which still owns it. If there is no eldest son, the Duchy reverts to the Crown.

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Edward III died on 21 June 1377, less than six months later. The verses around his tomb in
Westminster Abbey mark his achievements, including his Jubilee:

         “Here [is] the glory of the English; the flower of past kings; the form of future kings; a merciful king; the
         peace of his peoples; Edward the third, completing the Jubilee of his reign … he ruled mighty in arms; now
         in heaven let him be a king.”

By this time, awareness of how long Kings had reigned was widespread through the practice of dating
documents by regnal years. For example, Dartmouth’s earliest surviving churchwardens’ accounts are
dated “from Michaelmas 9 Henry VI to the morrow of Michaelmas 10 Henry VI” (29 September 1430 –
28 September 1431).

Henry VI became King in 1422 when only nine months old, after Henry V’s premature death from
dysentery while on campaign in France. But due to the upheavals of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VI
did not live to see his Jubilee. He died (or was murdered) in captivity in the Tower of London in May
1471, six months short of his 50th birthday, having briefly regained his throne for six months in the
revolt of the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick against Edward IV. This period is regarded as
his 49th regnal year, after a gap of ten years following his deposition in 1461.

Marking other Royal Anniversaries in Dartmouth

No medieval or early modern English monarch surpassed Henry III or Edward III’s long reigns, but after
the Reformation it became the custom to mark royal anniversaries every year. Although Elizabeth I was
long-lived, dying a few months short of her 70th birthday, she reached only her 45th regnal year, so
never marked her Jubilee. However, the practice of celebrating her accession on 17 November every
year became widespread. Dartmouth’s surviving town accounts first record payment of 5s 4d to the
“Ringers” for this purpose in November 1588. The payment probably also included ringing on the
national Day of Thanksgiving declared on 19 November 1588 for the victory over the Spanish Armada.
The thanksgiving not only marked England’s Protestant triumph over Catholic Spain but also the
completion of thirty years of the Queen’s reign.

On the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne as James I, on 24 March 1603, the
annual celebration became “King’s Day” or “Coronation Day”, being regularly recorded in Dartmouth’s
town accounts. On this occasion in 1620, for example, bells were rung and George Davey, the town’s
gunner, fired a royal salute. James ruled England for 22 years; he was Scotland’s longest reigning
monarch before the Acts of Union in 1707, achieving nearly 58 years. He became King of Scotland in
1567 aged only thirteen months, after the enforced abdication of his mother Mary Queen of Scots. He
marked his Jubilee year on the Scottish throne in 1617 with a royal progress around Scotland.

Changing Ideas of Jubilee

Biblical ideas about Jubilee remained influential; for example, amongst religious and political radicals in
the 17th century, the 50-year cycle of the jubilee was used to calculate the date of the Second Coming of
Christ, heralding the end of oppression and injustice on earth. Such ideas continued to inform political
thinking into the 19th century.

But the idea also took on a simpler and more secular meaning; Dr Johnson’s Dictionary defined a
Jubilee as “a publick festivity; a time of rejoicing; a season of joy”. It is in this sense that Royal Jubilees
have developed over the past two centuries.

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The Jubilee of George III, 1809

George III acceded to the throne aged 22 on 25 October 1760, becoming heir to the throne after the
premature death of his father, Frederick Prince of Wales, in 1751. By this time, annual royal ringing
days had multiplied. For example, Dartmouth’s Mayor’s Accounts of 1765 show celebration not only of
the dates of the King’s accession and coronation, but also his birthday and the Queen’s birthday. Such
occasions were also marked by “supper and punch” for the Corporation, presumably from the
magnificent silver punch bowl now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. But these events were for the
privileged few in the town only; the accounts do not indicate any provision for wider public
celebration.

George III was the first English monarch since Edward III to rule for half a century. The first half of his
reign was difficult, not least because of the war of American Independence; but the King’s illness in
1788, and revolution in France in 1789, produced a sea-change in public attitudes. Notwithstanding
scandals involving the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of York and his mistress, by the time
of his Jubilee in 1809 George III had become well-loved as the “Father of his People”, a symbol of
national identity and of Britain’s success and stability relative to other European countries during the
Napoleonic wars.

There had been official thanksgivings for the King’s recovery in 1789, as well as for naval victories in
1797 and the declaration of peace in 1801 – further research is needed to identify whether, or how,
these events were marked in Dartmouth. However, the idea of celebrating his Jubilee with nationwide
“publick festivity” came neither from the King himself, nor from his Government, but was the
inspiration of a widow from Chepstow, one Rachel Biggs. In July and August 1809, she wrote
anonymously to influential people and newspapers across the country, suggesting “a national Jubilee” on
“25th of October next … as his Majesty will on that day enter the 50th year of his reign” (Exeter Flying
Post 27 July 1809). Although it was noted that George III would not actually achieve his Jubilee until
the end of the year, Mrs Biggs’ proposal was widely taken up, including in Dartmouth.

War had severely affected the Newfoundland trade, though the economic impact was counteracted to
some extent by shipbuilding contracts for the Royal Navy. But according to newspaper reports, the
Jubilee “was observed by every demonstration of joy”. After breakfast at Mayoralty House (then in
Speedwell House, Lower Street) the Mayor and Corporation and “principal inhabitants” processed to St
Saviours for a special service. Then, at the Coffee House at the end of the Butterwalk, they signed a
“very loyal address to his Majesty” (London Gazette No 16312):

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty
We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses, and Inhabitants of the
Borough and Town of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness, humbly beg Leave to congratulate your Majesty on your entering
upon the Fiftieth Year of your Reign; an Event which cannot fail to rejoice the Hearts of all your Majesty’s loyal
Subjects, and to call on them for great Thankfulness to the Almighty for the manifold Blessings which they have
received under your Majesty’s mild Government.
That it may please the Divine Being, by whose Power Kings reign, long to continue your Majesty to rule over a
grateful and loyal People; and that the Crown of these Dominions may descend to the latest Posterity in your
Majesty’s illustrious Family, are our most ardent Prayers.
Nich. Brooking Jun. Mayor                                        Dartmouth, October 25th 1809

At 3pm seventy gentlemen dined at the Castle Inn (the Royal Castle Hotel) with many “constitutional
toasts and sentiments”, followed by a ball at 8pm “in the society of the greatest number of Ladies we

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ever remember to have seen”. The guns at Dartmouth Castle fired three royal salutes, with “each
revenue cutter and armed vessel in the harbour”, and the volunteer militia fired three volleys.

Some radical critics of the Jubilee had suggested that feasting and jollity should be replaced by, or at
least combined with, ways of benefiting the poor and oppressed. In response to such sentiments, some
cities and towns modified their original plans to include a measure of philanthropy, in particular
spending money on helping the poor rather than on general illuminations.

Whether there was any such modification of Dartmouth’s plans is not clear, but according to the
Morning Post of 14 November 1809, “about 800 poor were supplied with mutton and beef by the
Corporation; and the sum of £80 was subscribed to be laid out in coal and candles to be distributed
among poor families in the course of the ensuing winter.” At the cost of local merchant Arthur Hunt,
one hundred people “were regaled in the Rope Walk in the old English style, with roast beef, plum-
pudding and strong beer”. But Dartmouth had illuminations too - the day concluded with a firework
display on the New Ground (the area of reclaimed ground in the centre of town, connected to the Quay
by a bridge).

The “latest Posterity” referred to in Dartmouth’s loyal address of 1809 was George III’s granddaughter
Princess Charlotte, only daughter of the Prince of Wales and the King’s only legitimate grandchild at
the time. Not long after his Jubilee celebrations, George III again fell seriously ill and this time, never
recovered. In 1811 the Prince of Wales assumed the Regency until the King died, aged 81, on 29
January 1820, nine months short of completing his 60th regnal year. Princess Charlotte had died in
childbirth three years earlier, her infant son dying with her. The tragedy prompted George III’s fourth
son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, to marry. His daughter Victoria succeeded her uncle, William IV,
on 20 June 1837, aged 18.

Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, 1887

The success of George III’s Jubilee served as a model for Queen Victoria to follow as she approached
her own 50th anniversary, but both she and her Government preferred to mark the end, rather than the
start, of her 50th regnal year. The Queen decided to celebrate her Jubilee on 21 June 1887 with a public
service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey and strongly encouraged others to commemorate the
Jubilee by raising funds for good causes.

With close connections to the Queen and the Royal Family through the Regatta, dubbed “Royal” from
1856, and through the education of royal princes in HMS Britannia, Dartmouth’s support for the
Jubilee was not in doubt. But local political rivalries produced two competing schemes, followed
closely in the columns of the Dartmouth Chronicle and other Devon newspapers. Francis Simpson,
owner of the shipbuilding and engineering firm Simpson and Denison (later Simpson Strickland), and
re-elected Mayor in November 1886, proposed a voluntary funded Cottage Hospital (there was no
National Health Service at the time). Simpson was a controversial figure, first elected to the Council in
1882 as the leader of opposition to the Dartmouth Harbour Commission’s Embankment scheme, which
bitterly divided the town for a long time, and had only recently been completed.

There was much support for a Cottage Hospital but also much opposition to Simpson. His opponents
argued that a hospital would be expensive to build and maintain, and so might fail to be a permanent
memorial; it would not benefit everyone; and would not be sufficiently “ornamental” for the Jubilee.
They proposed instead laying out the New Ground (now entirely enclosed) as a public park, including a
memorial to Thomas Newcomen (born in Dartmouth) “who had done so much to advance that section
of science which had revolutionised the nineteenth century” (Dartmouth Chronicle 4 February 1887).

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Also suggested were the erection of public baths; improving the water supply; relaying roads and paths;
and, even more ambitiously, building a new guildhall, market, police station, fire engine-house and post
office. The Western Morning News of 1 February 1887, commenting on the “diversity of opinion” in
the town about what to do, observed that “another suggestion … is to extend the right hand of
friendship and fellowship all round more heartily and sincerely than has been the case for a long time
past [and] some good scheme … will receive the united and common assent of all within the borough,
so that her Majesty may say, “Well done men of Dartmouth!””

However, it was not to be. Francis Simpson called a public meeting, which voted 38:34 against the New
Ground scheme, and 44:18 in favour of a Cottage Hospital. But the anti-Simpson group (including
Robert Cranford, the editor of the Dartmouth Chronicle) held a rival public meeting, which voted in
favour of the New Ground improvement plan as cheaper, permanent, highly ornamental, and benefiting
all residents and visitors alike. Two separate Committees began fund-raising; both advertised for
support on the front page of the Dartmouth Chronicle on 4 March 1887.

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Although a few residents supported both schemes, the rivalry does not seem to have produced more
money in total, rather the contrary. The plan for the Hospital involved a new building costing £1000,
with ten beds, with annual running costs of £200. By April 1887, six weeks before the Jubilee, funds
raised were only £430, with annual subscriptions totalling £87. Consequently, plans were reduced to
leasing a property for three years, with room only for five beds and limiting annual running costs to no
more than £150. The house now known as Morocco House, in Bayards Cove, was selected, and the
hospital remained there for seven years before funds permitted the move to a new building on the
Embankment in 1894. Perhaps for that reason, the connection to the 1887 Jubilee never seems to have
been formally commemorated in the Cottage Hospital’s name or on the building.

The New Ground scheme too raised less than hoped, being £170 short of the planned £500. The final
plan involved several new avenues of trees, from Zion’s Slip (now Zion Place) to Parade House (at the
end of Duke Street); from Hawke’s Slip (now Flavel Street) to the existing trees on the north side; from
Parade House circling round the bandstand to the north-east corner; and rows of trees along the
Embankment and Boat Float. In addition, there were several large rockeries, some provided with seats;
a gas lamp; and a drinking fountain gifted by Sir Henry Paul Seale, originally positioned near the
bandstand. The drinking fountain, however, remained unconnected with the water supply for several
years. In 1903 it was relocated nearer the entrance and modified to become a purely ornamental
fountain. The ambition to erect a Newcomen Memorial in the Gardens was finally achieved in 1921.

 1887 Jubilee fountain, Royal Avenue Gardens. The large basin is inscribed “Presented by Sir Henry Paul Seale Bart
 in commemoration of the Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria 1887”. The upper two levels, including the statue,
and the little elephant heads which replaced the drinking taps, were added as part of the modifications in 1903. The
                                 fountain was moved to its present position in 2012.

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Despite all the disagreements, a third Committee raised about £100 for festivities on the day. Events
were reported at length in that week’s Dartmouth Chronicle (24 June 1887). At 8am on 21 June 1887
the bells of St Saviours and St Petrox were rung and Sir Henry Paul Seale’s Battery at Norton Park fired
a Royal Salute; vessels in the harbour ran up their flags. At 8.30am the Council met to seal a loyal
address to the Queen, as they had done in 1809:

To Her Most Gracious Majesty The Queen
May it please your Majesty:-
We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Clifton
Dartmouth Hardness, desire to respectfully offer our dutiful, sincere, and loyal congratulations to your Majesty on so
auspicious an occasion as the completion of the 50th year of your Majesty’s most glorious reign.
And we, in common with your Majesty’s loyal subjects in all your vast dominions, pray that the Almighty God, who,
in his infinite goodness has so long sustained your Majesty, may grant to your Majesty many more years of health
and happiness to exercise a beneficent rule over a prosperous and contented people.
 Given under our common seal at our Guildhall in the Borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness, this 21st day of
June, 1887.

The Council then processed with the town’s regalia to St Saviours for a full choral service at 9am.
Services were also held in the town’s other churches. At 10am a procession formed on the New
Ground, led by the Mayor and Corporation with “Borough Arms and Banners”, the Artillery
Volunteers, the police, JPs, Clergy and Ministers, Coastguards, and “members of the various trades”.
The town’s children were martialled in their Sunday Schools – all denominations were involved – and
were followed by the Foresters, the Rechabites and other friendly societies, the Dartmouth Amateur
Rowing Club carrying the “Swift”, and “the inhabitants generally”.

The procession around the town concluded at the site of the drinking fountain in the New Ground,
where at 11.30am the foundation stone was laid by Lady Seale with a silver trowel, and the new seats
and rockeries were declared open. Sir Henry Seale remarked how frightened he had been as a little boy
by the guns and drums at George III’s celebrations in 1809, and encouraged everyone to stop arguing:
“Let our motto be ‘Forget and Forgive’. Let us be united, for ‘Union is Strength’. Let us give ‘a long
pull, and a strong pull, and a pull altogether’. Then will … prosperity and happiness be the reward of
the people”. At noon a Royal Salute was fired at the Castle by the Artillery Volunteers and at the Royal
Dart Yacht Club, and at 1pm dinner was served on the New Ground to over 500 people, consisting of
roast beef, mutton, pork, potatoes, plum pudding and salad, with beer and lemonade.

The focus then moved to Bayards Cove, where at 3pm the Cottage Hospital was opened with due
ceremony; the National Anthem followed a short religious service. At 4.30pm over 1200 children were
given tea on the New Ground, followed by games and sports. At 6.30pm there was a procession of “all
the rowing, sailing and steam boats from HMS Britannia” to the New Ground, to the accompaniment of
the ship’s Band. At 8pm open air dancing began, to music from the Dartmouth Subscription Band.
Special gas illuminations decorated the town, shops illuminated their windows (clearly a novelty), and
“many private houses had magnificent displays”. At 10pm bonfires were lit on Dyer’s Hill (and on the
Kingswear side at Hoodown Ridge).

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 1897

The success of the 1887 Jubilee encouraged the Queen and the Government to mark the sixtieth
anniversary of her accession in a similar way. The Queen had become the longest reigning British
monarch the previous year, surpassing her grandfather George III, but deferred celebration until she had
completed her 60th regnal year. This was the first such Royal occasion and the Prince of Wales was said

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to have invented the phrase to describe the celebrations for his mother, although the concept of a
“Diamond Jubilee” had already begun to creep into the language by association with the term for a
sixtieth wedding anniversary. The event was again celebrated on 22 June, this time by an open-air
service held outside the west end of St Paul’s Cathedral, the elderly Queen remaining in her carriage.

In Dartmouth the divisions of ten years earlier were far from forgotten and again the Dartmouth
Chronicle reported events in detail. The Mayor, retired naval Captain Robert Orme-Webb, issued a
heartfelt plea for everyone to work “harmoniously and in unison”. By this time the Cottage Hospital was
well-established, having moved in 1894 to new purpose-built accommodation on the Embankment,
funded in large part by a loan from Mr R F Wilkins, of Brookhill, Kingswear. The Council decided to
make clearing the Hospital’s remaining debt the priority for this Jubilee; but they also hoped to provide
a “Workmen’s Rest” on the New Ground and to hold a dinner for the poor as in 1887 and 1809.

Then one Councillor, Henry Wellington, proposed that the Council should use the opportunity of the
Diamond Jubilee to build rent-free public housing for the “aged poor”, to be called “Corporation
Homes” not almshouses or poorhouses. He argued this would provide a permanent memorial, much
better than “a dinner forgotten the following day” (Dartmouth Chronicle 26 February 1897).

At this period, only London authorities had statutory powers to build public housing, so the Council
were advised by the Local Government Board that no publicly funded loan could be authorised for this
purpose. Nor did the Council have power to repurpose money received from Dartmouth’s charities,
which Henry Wellington had suggested could sustain the running costs. Moreover, his ideas were
strongly opposed by certain other councillors on political principle as the wrong use of ratepayers’
money.

The scheme thus made no headway and the political controversy affected Jubilee fund-raising. Most
money was given specifically for the Cottage Hospital; since there was not enough left to build the
Workmen’s Rest, the remainder after expenses also went to the Hospital, which received, in total,
£112 12s 2d (about £15,600 in today’s money). Nor was there a dinner - instead free groceries were
given out to over 500 people, on application. One new aspect of celebrations, however, was that all the
town’s children received an official memento and a treat – they were each given a Jubilee medal and a
threepenny piece, at a cost of £6 2s and £19 3s 6d respectively. The Council further decided to rename
the New Road (built in 1826) “Victoria Road” in the Queen’s honour. A suggestion that the New
Ground should be renamed “Queen’s Park” was not supported, due to continuing disagreements about
how much of the area created after the Embankment was completed should be grassed.

After special Jubilee services on Sunday 20 June in all the town’s churches (the Mayor attended first at
St Saviours and then at the Wesleyan Chapel), Jubilee Day was celebrated the following Tuesday. The
bells of St Saviours and St Petrox were rung at 8am, and at 10am the Council met as it had done on
other such occasions to vote a congratulatory message to the Queen:

“To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty.
We, your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Clifton
Dartmouth Hardness, desire to respectfully approach your Majesty on the occasion of the completion of the 60th year
of your Majesty’s most glorious reign, to offer our sincere, dutiful and loyal congratulations on so auspicious an
event. And we, in common with your Majesty’s loyal subjects in all parts of your Majesty’s dominions, pray that
Almighty God may in his infinite goodness grant to your Majesty many more years of health and happiness to
continue a beneficent rule over a happy, prosperous and contented people, and to exercise a benign influence in the
interests of peace and civilisation in all quarters of the globe. Given under our common seal at our Guildhall in
Dartmouth, the 22nd June, 1897.”

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The Address was engrossed on vellum, in blue and gold, and bound in a blue Morocco cover.

The Mayor and Corporation then formally processed from the Guildhall to the New Ground, where the
town’s 1500 schoolchildren, who had been given three days off school, were gathered. They had
assembled in the town’s nine Sunday Schools (the “unattached” met at the Board School) to receive their
medals before marching to the New Ground, which was staked out with colours for their groups.
According to the Dartmouth Chronicle (25 June 1897): “The hundreds of prettily dressed children
carried banners and flags of all descriptions, and their happy and expectant faces lent additional gaiety to
the scene” and were “the feature of the procession”.

The Town Clerk read out the loyal address, and everyone sang the National Anthem, with a new second
verse composed for the occasion:

        O Lord our God arise
        Scatter her enemies
                 Make wars to cease
        Keep us from plague and dearth
        Turn Thou our woes to mirth
        And over all the earth
                 Let there be peace

In his speech, Mayor Orme-Webb referred to progress since the start of the Queen’s reign sixty years
earlier, in particular to the discovery of electricity: “… by its means Her Majesty will with her own
hand flash the signal through the electric cables that have been laid to every accessible portion of the
known globe, that she is assembled with her subjects at the service of thanksgiving being held at St Pauls
…” Addressing the children, he said that the future of the British Empire was in their hands, and
exhorted them to: “… maintain the supremacy that has been achieved not altogether by force of arms or
aggression, but by carrying into distant lands that love of law and order and of general progress that has
made England’s flag so welcomed in distant parts of the globe …”

The procession then marched by way of Prince of Wales Slip, Clarence Street, Hardness, and Market
Square to Ford Cross, turning left down New Road to where it joined Duke Street, where the re-
naming ceremony was performed by the Mayoress at a specially constructed temporary archway. The
procession continued along the Quay, along Lower Street, up Newcomen Road, down Bayard’s Cove
Hill, and back along Lower Street to the New Ground. To encourage and reward participation, the
threepenny pieces were not given out until the end of the procession; each child also received a bun!

A celebratory lunch for the Mayor and Mayoress and over ninety guests of the Council (tickets, 5s each)
followed at 1pm in the Subscription Rooms, catered by Mr J C Dawe of the Criterion Restaurant on the
Quay. In the afternoon, the Mayor gave a tea to the Boys Brigade; a tea was also provided at the Mission
for Seamen in Bayards Cove, and Lady Freake of Warfleet House gave a tea at the St Petrox
Schoolroom for the poor of the parish.

Houses, shops and ships in harbour were extensively decorated, including HMS Britannia (cadets had
not taken part in local celebrations this time, as most formed part of the Guard of Honour in the Jubilee
procession in London and the rest had gone to the Naval Review in Portsmouth). In the evening the
Castle Hotel was lit up with candles and there were gas illuminations on the arch in Duke Street and a
crown and plume of feathers on the New Ground, which was illuminated for al fresco dancing. At
10pm a huge bonfire was lit at Gallant’s Bower, clearly visible from the centre of the town.

12

Other organisations also raised money independently to mark the occasion. At St Saviours, for example,
the process of replacing old seating was underway as part of the continuing restoration of the church.
The bench ends of one seat, shown here, commemorated the Diamond Jubilee.

King George V’s Silver Jubilee, 1935

The Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria’s last major public celebration – indeed, she described it as
her “swansong”. She died on 22 January 1901, during her 64th regnal year, aged 81. The success of the
two Victorian Jubilees secured the place of such events in royal ceremonial and national public life.

Many English and Scottish monarchs had reigned for 25 years without marking the anniversary, but
George V was the first to celebrate a “Silver Jubilee”. He completed his 25th regnal year on 6 May 1935,
having succeeded his father, Edward VII, in 1910. As the second son, he was not expected to become
King and was originally destined for a naval career. He became second in line to the throne in 1892 on
the death of his brother, Prince Albert Victor (“Eddy”), from pneumonia. They had joined HMS
Britannia together in 1877 as naval officer cadets. George V had also sent three of his own sons to the
Royal Naval College (Prince Edward (the future Edward VIII), Prince Albert (the future George VI),
and Prince George (the Duke of Kent)), so Dartmouth continued to feel a close connection to the Royal
Family.

The 1930s were hard times in Dartmouth. The shadow of the Great War was still felt and there was
much unemployment, with the shipping industry at a low ebb. Unlike the Victorian Jubilees, the focus
in Dartmouth was on celebration rather than town improvements. The Council voted a penny rate to
fund festivities and also invited public subscriptions. A small souvenir booklet was produced, price 3d,
with a silver cover displaying portraits of the King and Queen. It included a list of royal naval cadets
headed by a photograph of the King himself when a boy, and including the Prince of Wales, naturally
expected to succeed his father in due course. The loyal address expressed more than conventional
sentiments of affection for the King and Queen and their family:

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To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty
May it please Your Majesty
We, the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness desire to offer
Congratulations on the historic event of the completion of the Twenty-Fifth Year of Your Reign, and we rejoice that
it has pleased God to spare You and Your Gracious Consort Queen Mary through times of joy and personal suffering
and during the greatest war in history when You shared with the people their anxieties and trials. We honour and
revere Your devotion to that Family of Nations – the British Empire.
We have witnessed with joy the growing acclaim of Your beneficent Reign and the steady and increasing growth of
affection for Your Majesty, and for the Royal Family. Your sympathetic understanding of Your subjects and Your
practical interest in the sufferings of the needy and distressed has been an inspiration and guide to all, and the
Statesmanship and activities of Your Family have won respect and honour wherever they have been directed.
We humbly pray that Your Majesty may long be spared to reign over us and that You may continue to witness the
peaceful prosperity of the whole Empire.
Ernest Travers, Mayor

The booklet devoted a page to “medieval Dartmouth” and then went on to discuss the challenges of
finding the right balance between past and present in an era of rapid change:

“Dartmouth today is by no means the traditionally dull and sleepy old sea-port town. It is a go-ahead
modern town, fully alive to the requirements of progress.
Perhaps for a while during the progress of its growth there was a danger lest old Dartmouth should be
wholly sacrificed to the new … today however the feeling is generally growing amongst the Burgesses
that Dartmouth must not lose her charm or cease to have that attractive power that draws visitors from
all over the world …
In a word, modern business Dartmouth has recognised that in all probability, Dartmouth will become
increasingly progressive as the time goes by, but in spite of that its historical interest and traditions must
always remain.”

The absence of town improvement projects for the Jubilee did not mean any less effort was required -
seven large committees organised a week of events. In one sign of modernity, Jubilee Day on 6 May
began, after peals of bells from the churches, with a live radio broadcast at 11am of the national
Thanksgiving Service from St Paul’s Cathedral, put through speakers mounted in the bandstand in the
Royal Avenue Gardens.

At the King’s request, schoolchildren were given a special two-day holiday. On Jubilee Day they
assembled in the Royal Avenue Gardens, by now firmly established as a public park. As in 1897, they
were each were given souvenir medals, bearing a picture of the King and Queen on the face and the
Borough arms on the obverse. Headed by the Borough Band, they then marched to sports, games and
tea in the Dartmouth United Football Ground at Longcross. As in 1897, a beacon was lit at Gallants
Bower at 10pm.

During the week there were teas, sports, dances, balls, concerts, and a river trip “for old folks”
organised by the River Dart Steamboat Company. Another “modern” feature was a week-long
programme of illuminations, including, for the first time, electric floodlighting of the Royal Naval
College and other local features, including the Victorian Jubilee Fountain: “The Fountain will be floodlit
in colours and the War Memorial in clear lighting. The series of illuminations will include the
Bandstand, Embankment, Dance area, Gardens, G.M. and Crown and entrance to Royal Avenue
Gardens. The Royal Naval College will be floodlit.”

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The conclusion of the programme on Sunday 12 May was a united inter-denominational Jubilee
thanksgiving service in the Royal Avenue Gardens, attended by the Mayor and Corporation and “all the
societies and organisations” in the town.

Sadly, George V died only a few months afterwards, on 20 January 1936. In less than a year, Edward
VIII had abdicated, to be succeeded by his brother, who, like their father, had never expected to
become King. In Dartmouth, the park laid out on the newly reclaimed Coombe Mud, to the north of
the town, was named in 1937 for the coronation of George VI rather than Edward VIII as originally
planned. George VI’s elder daughter Princess Elizabeth became the “Heiress Presumptive”, and with her
parents and sister made the first of several visits to Dartmouth and the Royal Naval College on 22-23
July 1939, aged thirteen. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, who had joined the College as a Special
Entry Cadet a few weeks earlier, played a prominent role in hosting the two young royal Princesses.
The newly naturalised Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN and Princess Elizabeth married in 1947.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, 1977

On 6 February 1952 Princess Elizabeth succeeded her father George VI to become Elizabeth II.
Twenty-five years later, although the 1935 Silver Jubilee provided an encouraging precedent, a Silver
Jubilee was not inevitable, and according to Ben Pimlott’s biography of the Queen, the anniversary
might have gone virtually unmarked. The 1970s were difficult times, of inflation, industrial unrest, and
unemployment; the Labour Government was concerned about a lack of public response or even
significant public opposition; but eventually the Jubilee went ahead.

Although the Accession had taken place in February, the main celebrations in the UK were scheduled
for the summer. In the run-up, the Dartmouth Chronicle reported the speech of the incoming Mayor,
Richard Hoare, in May 1977. He much regretted the loss of Dartmouth’s historic borough status in the
local government reorganisation in 1974, but tried to be positive about the future nonetheless:

“For Dartmouth in particular, besides losing many of the powers we originally had, the new set-up is
too remote. Gone are the days when one could come here to the Guildhall with a problem and get
some results on the spot … Dartmouth has not changed all that much, but regrettably some of the old
established shops are closing … seasonal shops seem to be taking their place … Dartmouth was still a
town of which they could be proud … In the coming year he would like to see … some improvement
in car parking facilities … he would like to see the park and ride implemented … At Townstal there
were now a number of factory sites available and it was his hope they would … give much-needed
employment to the town …”

The Council again produced a souvenir programme for the Silver Jubilee, though rather less extensive
than in 1935, with no photographs, costing 10p. A single small Committee oversaw three days of
events, beginning on Sunday 5 June with a parade led by the BRNC Royal Marine Band to a Drumhead
service in Coronation Park. On Jubilee Day, 6 June, there was a special children’s programme at the
Royalty Cinema, a record concert in Royal Avenue Gardens, children’s sports and a fete. During the
evening there was a dance at the Guildhall and alfresco dancing in the Royal Avenue Gardens, and at
10pm the bonfire was lit, this time at the “historic beacon site” near the Water Tower at Jawbones.
Tuesday saw a fancy-dress parade and Punch and Judy show in the Royal Avenue Gardens, followed by
a concert and a barbecue; events concluded with the Jubilee Ball at the Guildhall.

In Dartmouth as elsewhere the aim was to make the Silver Jubilee primarily a community celebration
and a particularly successful aspect was the street parties organised by local people for themselves.
There is no comprehensive list, but the Dartmouth Chronicle included pictures of parties in Above

15

Town, South Ford Road, Victoria Road, Ferndale, Ford Valley, St John the Baptist School, Bayards
Cove, Mashford Avenue, and Crowther’s Hill.

Dartmouth’s children this time each received souvenir mugs as their memento. However, of 30,000
official Silver Jubilee Medals awarded in the UK, four went to Dartmouth residents: Brenda Breakwell,
Chairman of South Hams District Council and a previous Mayor of Dartmouth; Jack Goss, for his work
in the Territorial Army and with Army cadets; Sam Scardifield, who worked at BRNC and was organist
at St Clements Church; and CPO J Gilmartin, Mayflower Close, serving in HMS Tiger. Other
members of staff at BRNC also received the medal.

The Loyal Address on this occasion was shorter, but emphasised Dartmouth’s continuing sense of close
connection with the Queen:

“To commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Her Most Excellent Majesty.
We the Mayor, Councillors and Citizens of the Town of Dartmouth lay before your Majesty our most sincere
congratulations on your Silver Jubilee. It is with great pride that we recall Your Majesty’s close association with this
our Ancient Town and pray with God’s Blessing that your Majesty may ever enjoy the love and affection of your
faithful subjects.
R M Hoare, Mayor”

As in other Jubilees, the town struggled to reach its official fund-raising target, though this was thought
to be partly because organisations had contributed directly to the Prince of Wales’ Jubilee Fund rather
than going through the town. However, the year ended on a positive note, with the opening of Jubilee
Close in Townstal, consisting of 54 one-bedroom flats, 18 ground-floor flats being exclusively for the
elderly. Admittedly it had been built by South Hams District Council, who now had responsibility for
council housing, but Councillor Henry Wellington, who had campaigned for “Corporation Homes” to
be built for the Diamond Jubilee 80 years earlier, would surely have been pleased to see what the
Dartmouth Chronicle called “the biggest single housing project Dartmouth has seen”. But the town still
had to wait another twenty years for the park and ride predicted by the Mayor.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, 2002 and 2012

Commenting on the Silver Jubilee, the Dartmouth Chronicle observed, presciently: “The Queen is still
young enough for us to anticipate the next 25 [years]. Shall we, in time, be talking (as they did of
Victoria) about 60 glorious years? Why not? For glorious they may well be in a way that has nothing in
common with the Victorian conception. They are and will be, years glorious in terms of service and
example adjusted to the modern need, which is something far, far better … There was something
essentially personal in the celebrations … the more impressive because this is an egalitarian age, a
sceptical age, in which the trappings of power are automatically suspect …”

The Queen’s Golden Jubilee year of 2002 was difficult for the Queen herself, who lost her sister and
her mother in February and March; and it followed an even more difficult decade, which saw the
divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1996 and the extraordinary events after the death of
Diana, Princess of Wales in a car accident in Paris on 30 August 1997. Against this background, Labour
Prime Minister Tony Blair emphasised the Queen’s “unique contribution” to the country and described
the Golden Jubilee as “a significant national anniversary … [which] will offer people of all ages and
cultures and from all walks of life the opportunity for celebration … It should be a time for looking
forward as well as back – including at the great changes that have taken place in the nation’s life during
Her Majesty’s reign.”

16

As was the case for the Silver Jubilee, the main events took place in the summer, this time over a four-
day “Jubilee weekend” with an extra bank holiday, from 1-4 June. As elsewhere, Jubilee celebrations in
Dartmouth and the South Hams combined with the forthcoming football World Cup to ensure that
everywhere was festooned with national flags. Official medals were issued to all members of the
uniformed armed services who had completed five years’ service and later this was extended to the civil
emergency services – for example, 16 Golden Jubilee medals were awarded to Dartmouth firefighters.

The Diamond Jubilee in 2012 followed a similar format. Extensive festivities included street parties and
other community events, Jubilee mugs for the children, church services, a river pageant of 60 vessels,
fireworks, and the lighting of the beacon at Jawbones Hill as part of a network of over 3,300 beacons
throughout the UK and beyond.

By 2012, the Jubilee Fountain provided in 1887 by Sir Henry Paul Seale was in bad condition, though it
had been refurbished in 1999 for the Millennium and every effort had been made since to try to keep it
going. The Old Dartmothians Association (who will celebrate their own centenary in 2023) considered
another major repair, but in the end decided to replace it with an entirely new fountain, including
services, water supply, and electricity and lighting.

In another community project, the Diamond Jubilee Way was initiated by the Dart Area Landscape
Access Group (DALAG), backed by several other groups and organisations. This is a way-marked
“circular walk in the shape of a diamond”, connecting Little Dartmouth, Jawbones, Dyers Hill and
Dartmouth Castle, with spectacular town, river and coastal views.

             2012 Diamond Jubilee Fountain, Royal Avenue Gardens (further refurbished in 2018)

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Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch

The present Queen has broken all previous British royal records. Not only is she the longest-lived and
longest reigning British monarch3, she is also (according to Wikipedia) the oldest and longest-serving
incumbent head of state and the longest-serving female head of state in history. The Platinum Jubilee of
2022 is thus unprecedented in the history of Royal Jubilees.

A feature of the celebrations is “The Queen’s Green Canopy”, an initiative which invites “people from
across the United Kingdom to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’”. It reflects current concerns about
environmental sustainability as well as now traditional Jubilee ideas about the creation of a permanent
memorial which will have a wider benefit. As part of this project, four hundred young trees have
already been planted in Dartmouth’s Jawbones field.

As in 2012, Dartmouth Town Council and Kingswear Parish Council have coordinated their planning.
They recently announced a joint programme of events over the four-day bank holiday, Thursday 2 to
Sunday 5 June 2022: https://www.dartmouthtowncouncil.gov.uk/platinum-jubilee/
This too features tree-planting as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy. Since planting a tree was one of
the royal tasks carried out by the then Princess Elizabeth when she first visited Dartmouth in 1939, this
has a particularly appropriate local resonance.

Conclusion

As this article shows, the celebration of Royal anniversaries has a long history. But the modern Royal
Jubilee begins in 1809, with Mrs Biggs’ idea of turning a significant individual royal anniversary into a
major public event of collective national and local celebration.

The seven Royal Jubilees from 1809 to 2012 provide a series of snapshots of the town’s history
reflecting local concerns at that particular moment, as well as the wider political, economic and social
environment. Taken together, they illustrate how the town has developed and changed in two hundred
years. Planned public improvement projects have not always achieved their objectives fully at the time,
though they have helped to improve the town’s quality of life in the longer term. But two things stand
out - the way in which Dartmouth has come together to celebrate as a community, even when there
have been differences of opinion about what to do, or when times have been hard; and a strong sense of
connection with the monarch of the day.

It may be some time before we see another Royal Jubilee and certainly only the youngest Dartmothians
can expect to see another Platinum Jubilee. It is thus a special milestone amongst many in Dartmouth’s
long history.

© Gail Ham, for the Dartmouth History Research Group, April 2022

Note: A short article based on this research appeared in By The Dart May/June 2022.

3
 At time of writing she is also Queen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New
Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint
Kitts and Nevis.

18

Acknowledgements, sources and further reading

Special thanks to Irene Collins and Trudy Sellars at Dartmouth Museum for the opportunity to consult:
         Dartmouth programme for the 1887 Jubilee of Queen Victoria
         Dartmouth programme for the 1935 Silver Jubilee of George V
         Dartmouth programme for the 1977 Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
and to view other related artefacts.

J Stökl, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof!” Reading Leviticus
25:10 Through the Centuries, History of European Ideas, 44(6), 685-701

D P O’Brien, A Comparison between Early Jewish and Early Christian Interpretations of the Jubilee
Year, Studia Patristica, vol XXXIV, Ed M P Wiles and E J Yarnold, 2001

Anne J Duggan: Becket is Dead! Long live St Thomas, in The Cult of St Thomas Becket in the
Plantagenet World c1170-c1220 Ed Paul Webster, Marie-Pierre Gelin, Boydell and Brewer 2016

Dr John Jenkins, Assistant Director of the Centre of Pilgrimage Studies, University of York, Why did
they move Thomas Becket’s bones? 7 July 2021, blog.britishmuseum.org
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/why-did-they-move-thomas-beckets-bones/

Nicholas Vincent, Henry III, History Today, June 1 2002
W M Ormrod, Edward III, History Today, June 1 2002

Hugh R Watkin, Dartmouth Vol 1 - Pre-Reformation, Parochial Histories of Devonshire no 5,
Devonshire Association, 1935, pp297-299, also Plate XVIII

Devon Heritage Centre, Dartmouth Corporation Archives:
DD61552 Receiver’s Account 1588-1589
DD61964 Receiver’s Account 1619-1620
DD64888A Mayor’s Account 1765

David Cressy, The Protestant Calendar and the Vocabulary of Celebration in Early Modern England,
Journal of British Studies, Jan 1990 Vol 29 No 1, CUP for North American Conference on British Studies

Linda Colley, The Apotheosis of George III: Loyalty, Royalty and the British Nation 1760-1820, Past &
Present, February 1984, no 102 pp 94-129, OUP for the Past and Present Society

Stuart Semmel, Radicals, Loyalists and the Royal Jubilee of 1809, Journal of British Studies, Vol 46 No 3
(July 2007) pp543-569, CUP for North American Conference on British Studies

Ben Pimlott, The Queen, Harper Collins, 1996 (also later editions updated for Golden and Diamond
Jubilees in 2002 and 2012)

House of Commons briefing note on Golden Jubilee 2002 SN/PC/1435 of 13 Jan 2003

The Dartmouth Chronicle has had several different names since 1854 but for simplicity has been
referred to throughout by that title. Copies of 19thC newspaper held by DHRG; other newspapers
accessed through British Newspaper Archive website. Special thanks to Jan Cowling for the opportunity
to view his personal copies from 1977.

19

Old Dartmothians Association, Projects: https://dartmothians.org/index.php/oda-projects

Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Dartmouth, May/June 2012, By The Dart, www.bythedart.co.uk

Dartmouth Bell Ringers ring in the Platinum Jubilee, Dartmouth Chronicle, www.dartmouth-
today.co.uk 13 February 2022

400 young trees planted in Dartmouth, Dartmouth Chronicle, www.dartmouth-today.co.uk
27 March 2022

The Queen’s Green Canopy, https://queensgreencanopy.org

The font used in this article is Perpetua, chosen for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee emblem, shown on
the front cover
https://www.royal.uk/queens-platinum-jubilee-emblem

The Dartmouth History Research Group is a not-for-profit community and voluntary group. We
undertake research into the history of Dartmouth and surrounding villages, and make it available to the
general public, to promote and increase public understanding of our local history and heritage.
Membership is free and open to all and new members are always welcome. For further information
about the group and a list of our other publications, please see our website “The Dartmouth Archives”,
at www.dartmouth-history.org.uk.