--And Bachelors
The Dunmow Bacon ceremony is discussed in the _Spectator_ of October
15, 1714, and in the succeeding number, the writer concluding--
I hope your readers are satisfied of this truth, that as love
generally produces matrimony, so it often happens that matrimony
produces love.
Thirty-seven years later there is a record of the giving of the Bacon
by the Lord of the Manor, the recipients being Thomas Shakeshaft, of
the parish of Weathersfield, Essex, weaver, and Ann his wife. They
figure in the _Everyday Book_ illustration. The "Hommage" on this
occasion consisted of Bachelors as well as Spinsters--
HOMMAGE.
William Townsend, Gent.
Mary Cater, Spinster.
John Strutt, the younger, Gent.
Martha Wickford, Spinster
James Raymond, the younger, Gent.
Elizabeth Smith, Spinster.
Daniel Heckford, Gent.
Catherine Brett, Spinster.
Robert Mapletoft, Gent.
Eliza Hazlefoot, Spinster.
Richard Birch, Gent.
Sarah Mapletoft, Spinster.
At this ceremony--it is reported in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ and
the _London Magazine_ of the year--some five thousand persons were
present. The weaver Shakeshaft and his wife are said to have made a
good deal of money by selling slices of their gammon.
Photographs of prints of scenes at the Shakeshaft presentation--one
from a painting by David Ogbourne, a local artist*--are now
reproduced.
* _See Essex Review_, vol. viii.
It is as well the pictorial records were made, for this ceremony of
1751 is regarded as "the last legitimate instance" of the
presentation of the Bacon.
An old copperplate from Ogbourne's painting has recently been
acquired by Mr. Hastings Worrin.
By the kindness of Mr. de Vins Wade we are able to furnish
photographs of the receipts given by the Reynoldses and the
Shakeshafts for their Bacon.
The names of the witnesses who "doe certify the proceedings" at the
Shakeshaft ceremony are--Susannah Smith, Susannah Calvert, Thomas
Pocklington, James Turner (? Turvin), W. Wicksted, and Mark Gretton,
Curate, who is no doubt the clerical figure shown in the Ogbourne
picture.
Mr. Wade's father and grandfather were stewards of the Manor, of
which he is now the Lord, from 1796 to 1837, and from 1837 to 1871
respectively. Mr. de Vins Wade became steward in 1891 and Lord of
the Manor by purchase in 1903. The records in Mr. Wade's possession
go back to 1640.
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[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE OLDEST PART OF THE PRIORY CHURCH.]
REMAINS OF THE OLDEST PART OF THE PRIORY CHURCH.--Similar work is
found in Glastonbury Abbey.
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[Illustration: INTERIOR OF PRIORY CHURCH BEFORE "RESTORATION."]
INTERIOR OF PRIORY CHURCH BEFORE "RESTORATION."--A lithograph from a
drawing by A. Barfield of Great Dunmow, published in 1837. The
square pews, in which some of the people sat with their backs to the
parson, remained till 1872-3.
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