Another Diamond Jubilee Medallion

It must have seemed amazing that Queen Victoria celebrated 60 years as the monarch of the United Kingdom and the Empire. Well, it is amazing that anyone should be head of state for 60 or more years. Our present Queen, Elizabeth II is only the second English/British monarch to serve for more than 60 years.

So no wonder, when Victoria reached her Diamond Jubilee, it was celebrated and memorabilia manufacturers had a field day. We have already seen two Diamond Jubilee medallions or brooches on this blog and here is a third, found by metal detectorist Norman on the old recreation ground.

Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medallion found on the old Recreation Ground in Market Lavington

The front tells us, or would without the damage, that Victoria the Good had reigned from 1837 to 97.

The reverse has a little more information.

The reverse side of the brooch

To commemorate the 60^th year of the reign of H. M. Queen Victoria.

It is not clear how this medallion was fixed to a garment. Not all that well, presumably, as it got lost.

But it has been found and is now safely at Market Lavington Museum.

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From the Easterton Echo of October 1977.

It scares some of us to realise that 1977 was 38 years ago.

It was the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and Easterton celebrated it. Amongst the activities in Easterton was a poetry competition and this entry was highly commended.

Poem to mark Easterton and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977

So congratulations to Mr Sainsbury who was running Easterton Post Office at the time.

If you find the poem a bit small to read then click on it to open a larger version.

Condolences on the death of Queen Victoria

The death of a monarch produces an outpouring of grief and this was certainly true when Victoria died after more than 60 years on the throne.

This must have been good news for Royal Mail as letters of condolence were sent and replies received.

Here we see one of the replies.

Letter received by James Welch of Market Lavington following the death of Queen Victoria

This letter, we see, was sent in reply to a resolution from the Wiltshire Agricultural Association whose secretary was James Welch of Market Lavington. James was the grandfather of museum founder, Peggy Gye.

The actual letter has a black border as befitted a mourning item. We have missed that out on this blog to allow more space and greater legibility for the letter’s content.

We can imagine that thousands of very similar replies were sent. The bulk of the letter is pre-printed with just a few gaps to be hand written in by royal workers – in this case a man called Charles Ritchie.

James obviously felt this letter should be kept and it was handed down through the family and then became a Market Lavington Museum item.

Royal mug shot

Many people have collected royal memorabilia in the past and many continue to do so. Not all, or even much of it can come to the museum for reasons of space or, more usually, because people hope to pass it down through their family. But they will often let us record a photo and today we look at a photo of one ‘royal’ mug. It belonged (and still does) to the Merritt family who lived at Vicarage Farm in Easterton. It is a coronation mug.

Mug (only a photo) for the coronation that never was in 1937

People who know about royal history will realise that this is a mug for a coronation which never took place – the coronation of King Edward VIII.

King Edward VIII abdicated before his coronation could take place.

This coronation was scheduled for May 1937 but of course, the King chose to marry the woman he loved and abdicated the kingship.

The country got its coronation for the plans made were transferred to the new king – George VI.

No doubt souvenir makers were a bit cheesed off at having to scrap the original memorabilia and producing new.

RAOB medal

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes was quite a big group in Market Lavington. The Enterprise Lodge used to meet in the Kings Arms where, no doubt, the men had a good time as they decided how to spend such money as there was on worthy causes. The Buffs, as they called themselves, had been founded in 1822 so it was a fraternal society of long standing.

In 1935, Reginald Chapman acquired a Silver Jubilee medal.

Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes medallion from 1935

We know nothing about this medal. It may have been something purchased as a show of royal loyalty but it is engraved on the reverse.

It belonged to Reginald Alfred Chapman of Market Lavington

There we have Brother R A Chapman of Enterprise Lodge, number 3599. Brother Reginald Alfred Chapman lived at 21 Spin Hill. We have documentary evidence for him being there between 1939 and the early 1960s.

We THINK Reginald may have been born in Cheverell in 1905 but by 1911 his widowed mother was in the London area. He may have died in 1991.

Diamond Jubilee

Queen Victoria became much loved – well, we all love an old lady and as most British people, by 1897, had never known another monarch, she must have seemed like a timeless symbol of our country. People in their tens of thousands bought commemorative items back then, for in 1897 Victoria celebrated 60 years as queen. It was her diamond jubilee.

We have looked at some commemorative items we have in Market Lavington Museum in the past. You can see a commemorative magazine here and a brooch by clicking here.

We now add a medallion, courtesy of Norman’s metal detecting finds.

Diamond Jubilee medallion at Market Lavington Museum

This was lost in the old recreation field and no doubt somebody was saddened to realise it had gone.

It’s cheaply made of base metal and has evidence that it once had a loop at the top. Presumably this was attached to clothing in some way, but sadly, for the owner, it broke and the medallion fell to earth.

100 years or so later it was found by Norman and now has a permanent home at the museum.

A local club, the Easterton Archers, also use metal detectors to locate arrows that have missed the target.

Easterton Archers meet on Wednesdays behind Easterton Village Hall

This 2014 archer looks satisfied so no doubt he hit every time.

The King thanks the Children

2014 may mark the centenary of the start of World War One, but at Market Lavington Museum we have just received a document which relates to the Second World War. Market Lavington and Easterton children were, in common with all children in the country, given a personal letter from the King on Victory Celebration Day – May 8^th 1946. No doubt thousands of these letters have survived but we are now pleased to have one given by a lifelong Market Lavington resident. The letter is on card and has punched holes at the top so that it can easily be hung on a wall.

Letter of thanks from George VI to a Market Lavington child in 1946

The King is thanking all of the children for sacrifices they had to make during the conflict. He hopes that they will be able to grow up as good citizens, working for unity amongst the peoples of the world.

The back of the letter has a Second World War timeline and space for a child to write in their own family’s war record.

The reverse of the letter has a war time line

Thanks, Faith, for this interesting record. No doubt other people will recall that they had one of these letters as well.

The Coronation of 1953 – Nationally and Locally

We rely 100% on donations of items at Market Lavington Museum. Sometimes you get them at the right time. Here’s one that would have been good last year when we celebrated 60 years since the Queen’s coronation.

However, we have still gratefully accepted a national brochure of events on Coronation Day together with a small leaflet about Market Lavington events, tucked inside its big brother brochure.

Let’s start with the national item. As you might expect it is a classy, glossy production.

National brochure for the events of Coronation Day – June 2nd 1953

Inside we see, amongst lists of dignitaries and timings of events, a charming picture of the Queen’s children, Charles and Anne, at the time.

One page from the Coronation programme

The Market Lavington leaflet is rather simpler in style.

Market Lavington programme for the Coronation of 1953

There’s the less than glossy cover and inside we find two simple programmes of events. One is for Coronation day – 2^nd June 1953.

Further events were held on the Saturday following.

It would certainly seem that the good folks of Market Lavington had a programme of events to suit many tastes.

More Royal memorabilia

Many folks get caught up in the excitement that surrounds royal events. Perhaps they purchase items that later they regret just a tad. Is this a case in point?

Royal commemorative plate at Market Lavington Museum

It’s a boxed plate commemorating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee which took place in 2002. It says it is a limited edition which might imply rarity or quality. In fact it was limited to ten days of firing which presumably means hundreds of thousands of these small plates were made. However, we are told that the plate was made…

Who ‘we’ the plate makers are, it doesn’t seem to say anywhere. But the makers thoughtfully provide a small plastic stand for display purposes.

The plate on its stand

This has arrived at Market Lavington Museum via a Market Lavington church fete. It arrived at the fete from a Canada Rise home. As we can see, it is a transfer printed item, actually, about saucer sized but we are delighted to have this piece of cheap memorabilia at the museum.

A Jubilee Tin

2012 might have been deemed our Royal Year as we celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, Elizabeth II. But royal artefacts still arrive at the museum and are still of interest and value to Market Lavington Museum.

This tin arrived from a family who lived in Easterton and was made to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of our queen’s grandfather, King George V. He came to the throne in 1910 so the tin dates from 1935

A 1935 Silver Jubilee tin – now at Market Lavington Museum

We can see that the tin is not in perfect condition. In particular, Queen Mary’s face has suffered a bit of damage. We can see, below, that one of the hinges has also suffered a bit, but it is still in working order.

The tin was well made but has no information about the original contents, but like many royal artefacts it was clearly regarded as a souvenir item and the family kept it and, no doubt used it. It would be eminently suited to biscuits.

Of course, what we like about this item is that we can attach a family to it – it has its local provenance.