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]]
CHAPTER IX
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE
The salary of the Keeper £50—His perquisites—Rooms in all the King’s houses—And at the Tower of London—His table provided from the King’s kitchen—Beer, wine, and spirits as seemed good to him—The King’s New Year gift money—Presents from the Ambassadors—Perquisites and privileges—How they were encroached upon—How the King decided—The King and Sergeant Painter—The Court Jeweller’s fee—A breeze with the Queen’s Household—The Keeper and the Crown—The Keeper a Privy Councillor—His official robes—“He hath no superior officer”—Pilfering of the Royal Jewels—The office worth £10,000 a year—The Keeper’s modest salary now—But no fear of the block on Tower Hill.
IN ancient days in England the salaries of dignitaries and holders of offices under the Crown were comparatively small, but the emoluments direct and indirect were often very valuable. Thus the official salary of the Keeper of Jewel House was, up to Tudor and Stuart days, only £50 a year, paid annually in arrears. But since it is manifest that no one could live, however economically, and keep up his position on this nebulous income the kings of those days allowed, what we now think vulgar, that is perquisites. Three hundred years hence, perchance butlers and hall-porters will be as much above the region of subsidiary salaries as is now the Lord Chancellor or the Master of the Horse, and as is, also from reliable information, the Keeper of the Jewel House. In this respect the Keeper of the King’s Treasure in those days fared by no means indifferently, his salary of £50 being a mere bagatelle which might almost have been dispensed with. To start with, apartments were reserved for him in all the King’s palaces, as well as at the Tower of London, for it was his duty to travel with the King wherever he went, and to take with him such articles of the Regalia and Royal plate as the King might have occasion to require. When in London the Keeper would reside in the Royal Palace, whilst his deputy was quartered at the Tower in immediate charge of the Regalia. Thus he lived rent free, though perhaps not always under the most comfortable conditions according to modern ideas, for there were a large number of similar officials in the King’s retinue, and each wrangled with another as to who should have this accommodation or that, and who should have precedence in this minor matter, as in greater.
The Keeper of the Regalia not only lodged free of charge, but also was his table plenteously provided from the King’s kitchen and from the King’s cellar. The allotment of solid refreshment laid down sounds almost immodest, being no less than fourteen “double-dishes” per diem. What a double dish was is not quite clear, but at the Coronation of James II there is a great enumeration of the “singular dishes,” and the diagram of the table shows all these dishes to be round in shape. Presumably, therefore, a double dish was oblong in shape, was twice the size, and held twice as much as a singular dish. And whereas our forefathers thought little of the light viands of these days, we may conclude that the fourteen double dishes held little but solid meats and puddings. Though appetites seem to have been large in those days, there appears to be an ample margin in this allowance for the Keeper not only to feed himself and a moderate following on a fairly liberal scale, but also to entertain his friends. Nor was the allowance of liquid refreshment less liberal; for in this respect we learn that the Keeper was allowed as much beer, wine, and spirits as seemed good unto him, and presumably to his guests.
Apart from these creature comforts more substantial benefits in hard cash accrued to the guardian of the Regalia. His Christmas box was a handsome money present which came out of the King’s New Year gift money. This gift money, which usually amounted to £3000 in gold, was presented to the King by members of the nobility, each according to his quality, and the Keeper received it on behalf of His Majesty for redistribution. Out of this sum he was entitled to keep one shilling in the pound as his own share, and to make what profit he could in distributing the remainder in silver, the ratio between the gold pound and its exchange into silver being a sensible source of profit. It was calculated that this percentage and rate brought in from £300 to £400 every New Year to the Keeper, which we must not forget was equal in value to £3000 to £4000 at this date.