THE KEEPERS OF THE JEWEL HOUSE
One of the most ancient offices under the Crown—The first keepers the
Abbot and monks of Westminster, 1042—First official Keeper appointed
in 1216 by Henry III—Jewels removed to the Tower—The Bishop of
Carlisle as Keeper—John de Flete—Robert de Mildenhall—Thomas
Cromwell, Earl of Essex—His romantic rise—A protégé of Cardinal
Wolsey—Helps Henry VIII to divorce Katherine of Aragon—And to marry
Anne Boleyn—Made Keeper of the Jewel House, 1532—In his portfolio
found the famous letter of Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII—Executed on
Tower Hill, 1540—The Marquis Winchester—His great rise—Keeper of the
Jewels to Edward VI—Hands them to Lady Jane Grey as Queen—Escapes
the block and is taken into favour by Queen Mary—Queen Elizabeth
also renews these favours—Dies in his bed—Sir Henry Mildmay, Keeper
of the Regalia in the reigns of James I, Charles I, and
interregnum—Deserts King Charles and joins the Parliamentarians—One
of the judges at Charles I’s trial—Grows rich on the proceeds of his
office—Dubbed “The Knave of Diamonds”—His flight, capture, and
trial—His sentence—His estate confiscated and given to James, Duke
of York—His picture after death—Sir Gilbert Talbot appointed by
Charles II—His rights and perquisites—Holds the office for thirty
years—Sir Francis Lawley—Heneage Montague—Charles Godfrey—Hon. James
Brudenell—Lord Lynn—Lord Abergavenny—Lord Glenorchie—Sir Richard
Lyttleton—The Earl of Darlington—A break in the ancient office in
1782—Revived in the nineteenth century—Lieut.-Col. Charles Wyndham,
who charged with the Scots Greys at Waterloo—Sir Michael
Biddulph—Sir Hugh Gough—Sir Robert Low—Sir Arthur Wynne.
ONE of the most ancient offices in the realm is that of Keeper of the
Jewel House. His title has varied backwards and forwards during the
centuries; at one time and in one reign he has been named the Master and
Treasurer of the Jewel House, in another reign or century the Keeper of
the Crown Jewels, sometimes he has been entitled the Keeper of the
Regalia, and at others, as at present, the Keeper of the Jewel House,
but his duties have been always the same, the custody of the Crown
Jewels.
In very ancient days, when the emblems of royalty were few and of no
great value, it was not necessary to have an officer especially
appointed to guard them; the Master of the King’s Wardrobe would take
them in charge along with the rich robes that a King wore in those days.
So that it is not till 1042 that we hear definitely of anybody being
placed in special charge of the King’s Regalia.
The English King who first found it requisite and advisable to place his
treasure under special guardianship was Edward the Confessor, and he,
being inclined that way, placed it in charge of the Church. It was thus
that the Abbot and monks of Westminster became the first Keepers of the
Regalia some nine centuries ago. For nearly two hundred years the Abbey
of Westminster safely kept its watch and ward, and it was only in 1216,
in the reign of Henry III, that the most valuable portions of the
Regalia, such as the Crown and Sceptre, were removed to the Tower of
London.
The inadvisability in this sinful world of leaving Crown Jewels,
intrinsically and historically of great value, only spiritually guarded,
was brought into prominence by the theft of certain pieces of Royal
plate by the monks in charge. With the removal of the Jewels to the
Tower was appointed the first official Keeper. Who he was is not
related, but a few years later, under the same monarch, it is clear that
the Bishop of Carlisle held the post.
The Bishop was typical of that age, a man of the world, politician,
courtier, with an episcopal mitre as an adjunct, or rather as a powerful
auxiliary in his dealings with the world in general, and his King and
fellow-subjects in particular. There is no record of the Bishop of
Carlisle actually heading a charge of cavalry, as did Thomas à Becket in
one of his less clerical moments, but he followed the King in his
campaigns, whether as a strategical, tactical, political, or spiritual
supporter, or whether in all four capacities, careful readers of the
history of those days will be able to judge. But whatever his chief rôle
or whatever the emoluments of his office, no mean addition came to his
purse from the ancient rights and perquisites of the Keeper of the Jewel
House.
Amongst the earlier keepers was John de Flete, who held the post in 1337
in the reign of Edward III, and whose pay we learn was twelve pence per
diem. Ten years later, also during the reign of Edward III, Robert de
Mildenhall was in custody of the Regalia; whilst in 1418 Henry VI
appointed Thomas Chitterne. None of these appear to have been men of any
mark, but no doubt honest folks of good repute and good family, who
could afford to live comfortably on the income derivable, without having
other offices attached to it.
In the reign of Henry VIII we find that the highest officers in the
State were appointed Keepers of the Regalia in addition to their more
important duties. Amongst these was Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, who,
from very small beginnings, rose to be the most powerful personage in
the State, only second to his sovereign. Son of a man of humble
position, who combined the trade of butcher with that of shearer of
cloth at Putney, he, after a turbulent youth at home and abroad,
returned with empty pockets to the parental roof at the age of
twenty-eight. He then married a lady of equally modest position, and
settled down as a combined solicitor and shearer, concerning which
combination of professions no doubt there passed a fairly obvious if
rude jibe. As law and trade prospered, he moved first to Fenchurch
Street and then to Austin Friars.
Thomas Cromwell’s rise to fame commenced in 1523 when he became a
protégé of Cardinal Wolsey, by whose influence he was returned for a
seat in Parliament. He was a useful man, the Cardinal found, with a
working knowledge both of the law and of business, whilst undoubtedly he
was above the average in ability. Moreover he had the best of manners,
acquired not only from his distinguished clients, but from his
experiences abroad. This legal knowledge and these persuasive manners
the Cardinal first put to useful service in suppressing the small
monasteries, so as to secure funds for the endowment of colleges at
Oxford and Ipswich. Wolsey was a great man, and the idea was great and
good, but unfortunately the desired result had to be attained by the
dubious method of violent despoliation. So entirely had Cromwell become
agent for the Cardinal, that Anne Boleyn in a letter addresses him as
the “Secretary of My Lord.”
For five years Cromwell was the faithful servitor of the Cardinal, and
then came the fall of that high potentate, a crash which threatened to
bring to earth his follower with him. But Cromwell was an exceedingly
clever person, and in the Commons succeeded in most ably defending his
patron without offending his opponents or the King. By thus securing for
his great patron a comparatively easy downfall, he added greatly to his
own prestige. Wolsey escaped banishment or the block by acknowledging
his misdeameanours and consenting to hand over the whole of his property
to the King. The King in return for this princely endowment, which
included Hampton Court much as we now see it, pensioned the great man
off as Archbishop of York, in which seclusion he died two years later.
Cromwell had now caught the King’s eye, and he used his legal knowledge
and acquired Court experience to climb the ladder, lately so nearly
overturned. The King wished much to divorce Katherine of Aragon, and to
marry Anne Boleyn, but the Pope stood in the way. Cromwell, the lawyer,
suggested that as no legal obstacles stood in the way of the King, who
can do no wrong, the simplest way of disposing of the religious
difficulties was to deny the supremacy of the Pope in England and to
proclaim himself head of the Church in his own land. Henry VIII followed
this advice, threw the Pope overboard, divorced Katherine of Aragon, and
married Anne Boleyn.
Naturally these great personal services went not unrewarded, first in
his appointment as a Privy Councillor, and next as Keeper of the Jewel
House, on April 14th, 1532. The latter was one of the substantial
benefits which in pay and perquisites made a man rich in those days. His
growing wealth and importance clearly pointed to the enlargement of his
house and property at Austin Friars. It is curious to learn that what is
thought a modern invention, the moving of a whole house on rollers, was
employed by Cromwell nearly four centuries ago. A house belonging to a
Mr. Stow was deemed to be inconveniently close to the Cromwellian
mansion, so it was with or without consent jacked up on to rollers and
bodily moved away to a less objectionable propinquity.
His part in securing the divorce of Katherine of Aragon and the
succession of Anne Boleyn brought him still further quick and plenteous
rewards. In rapid succession he became Lord Chancellor, the King’s
Secretary, Master of Rolls, and lastly Vicar-General, so that he might
be in a position to enforce the supremacy of his King over the Church.
Sir Thomas More, late Chancellor, and Bishop Fisher, fell beneath the
axe on Cromwell’s prosecution, their crime being a refusal to
acknowledge the King’s spiritual supremacy.
A little later we find Cromwell one of those who on the fatal May 2nd,
1536, escorted the Queen he had helped to make, the hapless Anne Boleyn,
to the Tower. And only a few days later we see him seated a witness at
her execution. In his portfolio was later found that most pathetic and
well-known letter addressed by Anne Boleyn to the King[16] praying for
mercy, which letter was never passed on to the King.
For four more years the sun shone on the erstwhile solicitor and
shearer, and he became first a Knight of the Garter, then a Baron and
Lord Great Chamberlain, and finally Earl of Essex. Great riches and
territory too came to him from the suppression of the greater
monasteries and the confiscation of their property. But in 1540 the sun
set on this phenomenal career, for on June 10th of that year, accused of
high treason by the Duke of Norfolk, attainted by Parliament, he passed
silently to that same block on Tower Hill to which he had assigned so
many.
In the days when great officers of State held the lucrative office of
Keeper of the Jewel House in addition to their other benefices was one
William Paulet, who later became 1st Marquis of Winchester. Of good
birth and a country squire, he was knighted in 1525, and the same year
made a Privy Councillor. Shortly after he became a Member of Parliament
as Knight of the shire of Hampshire, and also secured the curious
appointment of “Surveyor of the King’s widows, and Governor of all
idiots and naturals in the King’s hands.” This apparently led by easy
degrees to Controller of the Royal Household. In 1536 Sir William Paulet
was one of the judges at the trials of Sir Thomas More, and Bishop
Fisher, and also of the gentlemen with whom Queen Anne Boleyn was
accused of too familiar consort.
[Illustration: THOMAS CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX
KEEPER OF THE JEWEL HOUSE IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII]
A year later the Knight became a Baron, under the title of Lord St.
John, and Treasurer of the Royal Household, whilst not long after he
became a Knight of the Garter and Lord Chamberlain. When Henry VIII died
he was Lord President of the Council, and must have sincerely thanked
God that he had so far survived and prospered and had seen the end of
that monarch’s reign, with his head still on his shoulders. The Lord
President was one of the eighteen executors of Henry VIII’s will,
appointed to act as a council of regency during the minority of the boy
King, Edward VI. In 1550 St. John sided with the Duke of Northumberland
in the overthrow of Somerset, the Lord Protector, and as a result found
himself on the winning side with an earldom, that of Wiltshire thrown
in. He received also the offices of Lord Treasurer and Keeper of the
Jewel House. A year later we find plain William Paulet of a few years
ago created Marquis of Winchester.
When Edward VI died, the Marquis, as Keeper of the Jewel House, handed
over the Crown Jewels to Lady Jane Grey, and saluted her as Queen. Nine
days later, however, he was amongst the Lords who from Barnard’s Castle,
which lay on the river-bank close alongside the Tower, proclaimed Queen
Mary the rightful sovereign of these realms. Nor did the new Queen
resent the late temporary aberration, but took him to her stony heart,
and not only confirmed him in all his offices, but added that of Lord
Privy Seal. The Marquis was really a wonderful person, for though his
next appearance in history is as one of those who conducted the Princess
Elizabeth to the dread doom of imprisonment in the Tower, we next
discover him, a man well stricken in years, riding through London
proclaiming the same princess Queen of England. Nor did Queen Elizabeth
at once say, “Off with his head”; on the contrary, she confirmed him in
his appointment of Lord Treasurer. Though now upwards of seventy years
of age he was made Speaker of the House of Lords, and died in harness in
1572 at the venerable age of eighty-seven. The secret of this long life,
apart from physical fitness, was the possession of the gift which
perhaps we now call tact. If any proof were needed, it is only necessary
to record that a plain squire rose to be a marquis and lived through
four reigns during which heads fell as plentifully as apples in an
autumn gale, and yet eventually died peacefully in his bed.
One of the best known Keepers of the Crown Jewels is Sir Henry Mildmay,
who was appointed to the office in April, 1620, by James I, and retained
that office not only through the reign of Charles I, but also through
the Commonwealth, and was only dispossessed of it by Charles II on his
Restoration in 1660. Besides being Keeper, or as he was termed Master
and Treasurer of the Jewel House, Sir Henry was a Member of Parliament
for Westbury in Wiltshire, and also at another period for Maldon in
Essex. He was a _persona grata_ with James I, and also, it would seem,
with Charles I during the first fifteen years of his reign. But Sir
Henry then forsook his sovereign and became one of the Committee of the
Commons. His defection was considered so important that he was, by the
Parliamentarians, continued in his office, in so far as concerned the
drawing of the salary and emoluments thereof, though the situation was
somewhat grotesque since he was of the party which was in open arms
against the King, whose Crown Jewels he was supposed to guard.
Sir Henry was nominated, and sat as one of the judges who tried Charles
I, but he with some courage or address escaped signing the death
sentence, and afterwards claimed that he only accepted nomination in
hopes of saving the King. Throughout the Commonwealth he remained Keeper
of the Jewel House, though there were no jewels to guard, for these had
been broken up, defaced, destroyed, and sold by the order of Parliament.
But being one skilled in the etiquette of courts, he made himself useful
as Master of Ceremonies to Foreign Ambassadors, and continued to enjoy
the rich perquisites attaining to the office of Keeper of the Jewel
House.
For forty years Sir Henry Mildmay had grown fat and prosperous on the
proceeds of his office; indeed, he became a very rich man with great
estates and much ready cash to spend. But in 1660 Charles II was
restored to the throne, and Sir Henry Mildmay was immediately pounced
upon to produce the crowns and robes, sceptres, and jewels belonging to
the kingly dignity, of which he was the reputed guardian. At the time
the general impression was that Sir Henry had appropriated these to his
own purposes and sold them to his own advantage; he was in consequence
dubbed “the Knave of Diamonds.” As however has since become clear the
royal emblems, or such as remained, were disposed of under the orders of
Parliament. It may, however, be conjectured that Sir Henry, in
accordance with the usages of the age and the rights of his office,
secured a goodly percentage on the sale prices. His detractors averred
that he had himself valued and bought in the Crown Jewels at the
exceedingly low prices they fetched, and at his leisure disposed of them
at great profit. There is, however, no recorded proof of this.
But Sir Henry Mildmay, whether he had a guilty conscience or not,
thought discretion the better part of valour, and attempted to escape
abroad. He was, however, caught by Lord Winchelsea at Rye in Essex and
sent back to London. He was tried in 1661 at the Bar of the House of
Commons, and sentenced to be degraded from all his honours and titles.
Furthermore, he was sentenced to be annually drawn on a hurdle through
the streets of London from the Tower to Tyburn, then passed under the
gallows, and again dragged back to the Tower. This penalty was to be
exacted on each anniversary of the day on which sentence had been passed
on Charles I, that is January 27th. Whether Sir Henry ever took this
ride is not clear, but probably he did more than once, for it was only
in 1664 that the Lords in mitigation ordered him to be transported to
Tangiers. On the way to his exile, however, he died at the town of
Antwerp. His vast accumulations of wealth were forfeited to the Crown,
his estate at Wanstead being of sufficient importance to be assigned to
James, Duke of York.
There was a strong rumour at the time that Sir Henry Mildmay had been
either hanged or beheaded, which rumour caused his relations and
descendants great annoyance. As proof to the contrary they produced a
painting of the dead knight, which still exists, showing him lying on
his back on his death-bed. The clothes have been drawn down and his neck
bared, so as to clearly show that no trace of cord or axe was upon it,
and that he died no felon’s death. Naturally a picture of this sort is
no proof in a court of law, for the artist might with ease omit all
signs of violence; but history bears out the contention that Sir Henry
Mildmay died a natural death.
Whatever the merits or demerits of Sir Henry Mildmay may have been,
Charles II had too many Royalists with claims on his generosity to
retain in office one who had evidently been hand-in-glove with those who
had kept the King from his father’s throne, and in exile for so long.
Amongst those with such a claim was Sir Gilbert Talbot, who had followed
the King’s fortunes in France, and was now back in England in
impoverished circumstances. On his application for an appointment the
King made him Keeper, or as he was then styled, Master and Treasurer of
the Jewel House. We are indebted to a very interesting manuscript
dictated in 1680 by Sir Gilbert Talbot for a detailed account of the
ancient rights and perquisites belonging to the office. These he
obtained from Sir Henry Mildmay, and it is expressly stated that they
were the same as enjoyed by Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in the reign
of Henry VIII. Facsimiles of some of the pages of the manuscript are
given, but it is of historic interest that they should be recorded in
full, and these will be found in the Appendix. Sir Gilbert Talbot held
the office for thirty-one years, and as is duly related elsewhere, was
in office when Colonel Blood made his attempt to steal the Crown and
other portions of the Regalia. Sir Gilbert and his connection with his
office enters so much into other parts of this book that it is not
necessary here to say more about him.
When Sir Gilbert Talbot died in 1691 the office of Master and Treasurer
of the Jewel House fell in succession to persons of various degrees and
ranks, of whom little can be gathered from modern books of reference.
Sir Francis Lawley, doubtless an ancestor of the present Lawleys, was
next in charge of the Crown Jewels for six years, and was succeeded by
Heneage Montague, probably a cadet of the family of Montagu, who a few
years later became Duke of Manchester.
Montague was followed by Charles Godfrey, who was Keeper through parts
of three reigns, those of William and Mary, Anne, and George I. Then
came the Hon. James Brudenell, a son of Lord Brudenell, a title now
merged into that of the Marquis of Ailesbury, who held the office for
fourteen years during the reigns of George I and George II. The Hon.
James Brudenell was succeeded by Charles Townshend, Lord Lynn, who was
nine years Keeper in the reign of George II.
The next in succession was William Neville, Lord Abergavenny, an
ancestor of the present Marquis of Abergavenny, though the family now
spells the name Nevill without the final “e.” This Keeper was in office
for six years in the reign of George II.
He was succeeded by John Campbell, Lord Glenorchie,[17] a son of the
Earl of Breadalbane, who had custody of the Crown Jewels for eleven
years in the reign of George III. Next in succession came Sir Richard
Lyttleton, who held sway for thirteen years and through parts of two
reigns. Next came Henry Vane, Earl of Darlington, who retained the post
for close on twenty years. Whether this nobleman was inefficient, or
eventually suffered from senile decay, is not recorded, but evidently a
Keeper was deemed a superfluous person, for on his death came a break in
the ancient office which had then existed for seven hundred years, and
even through so unfavourable a period for Royal offices as the
Commonwealth.
When Lord Darlington died in 1782 the office of Keeper of the Regalia
was suppressed under an Act of Parliament, known as Stat. 22 Geo. III,
c. 82, and his duties were transferred to the Lord Chamberlain. It is
reasonable to conjecture that the pay and perquisites also went to the
Lord Chamberlain.
For forty years or more the office of Keeper lay dormant, whilst the
Lord Chamberlain remained responsible for the safety of the Crown
Jewels. It was not indeed till the reign of Queen Victoria that the
question arose of the suitability of this arrangement, for naturally the
Lord Chamberlain has much else to do, and cannot give his personal
guardianship to so great a responsibility. It was the Duke of
Wellington, who was then Constable of the Tower, who brought the matter
to Her Majesty’s notice, and Queen Victoria thereupon decided to revive
the office of Keeper of the Crown Jewels. Appropriately, too, Her
Majesty decided that in future this charge should be entrusted to an old
and valiant soldier. Her first choice, therefore, was Lieut.-Colonel
Charles Wyndham, who had charged with the Scots Greys at the Battle of
Waterloo, and is, it is said, one of those portrayed in the famous and
historic painting by Lady Butler, known all over the world, “Scotland
for Ever.”
No less than seven officers were one after another appointed by Queen
Victoria during her long reign, each serving till he died or was
promoted elsewhere. Colonel John Cox Gawler, late 73rd Foot, succeeded
Colonel Wyndham, and was in his turn succeeded by Captain Arthur John
Loftus, late 10th Hussars. Then came Lieut.-General Sir Michael
Biddulph, G.C.B., a very distinguished officer who, after a few years as
Keeper of the Crown Jewels, was transferred to the House of Lords as
Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, a post he held to his death. Sir
Michael Biddulph was succeeded by Lieut.-General Sir Frederick
Middleton, K.C.M.G., C.B., known to many previous generations of
Gentlemen Cadets as Commandant of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
The last appointment made by Queen Victoria was that gallant old
soldier, General Sir Hugh Gough, one of the great soldier family of
Goughs, who had won the Victoria Cross as a subaltern in the Indian
Mutiny with Sir Deighton Probyn, Sir John Watson, Sir Charles Gough his
brother, and Sir Sam Browne.
King Edward’s only appointment during his short reign was General Sir
Robert Low, G.C.B., who ended a long and distinguished career as a
soldier by the remarkable military achievement known as the Relief of
Chitral, certainly one of the most complete strategical and tactical
successes recorded amongst our smaller wars.
The office has twice fallen vacant during the present King’s reign. His
Majesty’s first selection, when Sir Robert Low died, was General Sir
Arthur Wynne, G.C.B., who had distinguished himself in many a war from
the Jowaki Expedition of 1877 and the Afghan War which immediately
followed it, down to the South African War of 1899-1901. Sir Arthur
retired from the office of Keeper of the Jewel House after five years,
and was succeeded by the present holder.[18]
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