The following is the patent for the reversion of the appointment:—
Charles R.
Whereas our dear brother, James, Duke of York, Lord High Admiral of England, hath by his orders, dated the 4th of September last past, directed you to cause Captain Nicholas Tetershall to be borne in pay, together with one servant, as captain of our vessel called the Royal Escape; and that he should be allowed pay as captain of a fifth-rate ship, and he and his servant paid with the yard at Deptford; and whereas the said Nicholas Tetershall hath humbly besought us to continue the said allowance unto his son, Nicholas Tetershall, after his decease, in consideration of his faithful and fortunate service performed unto us, we have thought fit to condescend unto that his request, and it is accordingly our will and pleasure that after the decease of the said Nicholas Tetershall, the father, he, the said Nicholas Tetershall, the son, be borne in pay, together with one servant, as captain of our said vessel, the Royal Escape, and that he be allowed pay as captain of a fifth-rate ship, and he and his servant paid with the yard at Deptford, in the same manner as his father now is. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 29th day of August, 1672, in the four-and-twentieth year of our reign.
By His Majesty’s command,
Henry Coventry.To the Principal Officers and Commissioners
of our Navy now and the time being.
By the following minute in the record book of the House of Commons, Wednesday, 19th of December, 1660, it will be seen that His Majesty was not unmindful of the services in effecting his escape, that were rendered by Mr. Lane and his family:—
Resolved.—“That as a mark of respect to Mrs. Lane, and in testimony of her services, in being instrumental to the preservation and security of the person of his royal Majesty, there be conferred on the said Mrs. Lane the sum of £1,000, to buy her a jewel, and that the same be, and hereby stands charged on the arrears of the grand excise, and paid to her assigns, in course, after the other sums are satisfied which are charged on the grand excise, by former orders of this Parliament. And the commissioners of excise, for the time being, are hereby impowered and required to satisfy and pay the same accordingly. And this order, together with the acquitance of the said Mrs. Lane, or her assigns, testifying the receipt thereof, shall be to the commissioners of excise a sufficient warrant and discharge.”
And letters patent, bearing date, 12th day of July, Anno 1677, were granted by the king, to John Lane of Bentley, in the County of Stafford, that henceforth he and his lawful descendants shall bear in augmentation of their fraternal arms, three lyons passant guardant, or in a Canton Gu.
The “Royal Escape” was Tettersell’s coal-brig ornamented and enlarged; and shortly after the Restoration, she was moored in the Thames, opposite Whitehall, to receive the veneration of the fickle multitude. “But, some time after,” as Dunvan says, “when the increasing guilt of Charles proved to them a bitter restorative from political insanity, she dropped down to Deptford, where she remained in a progressive state of decay, till, in the year 1791, her mouldering remains were broken up for fuel in one of the dockyards there.”
The descendants of Tettersell long enjoyed an annual pension of £100. Sir John Bridger, the grandfather of Sir Henry Shiffner, of Combe Place, was the last of the family who received the pension. A ring which was given to Tettersell by Charles, is in the possession of the Shiffner family.
The name of the Inn, in West street, was, after the return of Charles from exile, changed from the “George” to the “King’s Head,” and as a memorial of the royal visit, the portrait of his Majesty became the sign of the house. It remained some years fixed on the outside of the premises; but about forty years since, when it was going rapidly to decay, it was taken down by the then landlord, Mr. Eales, and, having received a coat of varnish, was placed in an oak frame and hung up indoors. That, however, like every other memento of the flight of Charles, has some years been a thing of the past, the bedstead with its appurtenances whereon the royal personage slept, the chair whereon he sat, the cooking apparatus of the occasion, and every article connected with the event having long since been purchased at long prices to those persons who set store upon historical relics. On Royal Oak Day, the anniversary of the 29th of May, 1660, commonly called Restoration Day, it is customary for a large bough of oak to adorn the front of the “King’s Head.”
The only relic in Brighton, in any way connected with the “Merrie Monarch,” is Nell Gwynne’s looking-glass. This glass is amongst the curiosities in the Brighton Museum, at the Royal Pavilion, and is the property of Sir Charles Dick, of Port Hall, Dyke Road, Brighton. It bears the likeness of Nell Gwynne and King Charles, which are modelled in wax; and also the supporters or crest which Nell assumed, namely, the lion and leopard. The whole is curiously worked in various coloured glass beads, and the figures with the dresses are made to project in very high relief; indeed, they are merely attached to the ground-work. In the upper compartment is Charles in his state dress, and in the bottom one that of Nell Gwynne in her court dress—the pattern of which is very tasteful. On the right is Charles in his hunting dress, and on the left is Nell in her negligée dress. The beads have retained their colours, which are very appropriate to the subject, and must have been a work of considerable time and patience; but whether done by Nell or not, there is no record. Mrs. Jameson says:—“Charles, in spite of every attempt to detach him from her, loved her to the last, and his last thought was for her—‘Let not poor Nelly starve!’ Burnet, who records this dying speech, is piously scandalized that the King should have thought of such a ‘creature’ in such a moment; but some will consider it with more mercy, as one among the few traits which redeem the sensual and worthless Charles from utter contempt.”