Heraldry for Craftsmen & Designers

by Sir W. H. St. John Hope

Collars of similar construction, but always of silver, with pendent scutcheons of the town arms, were worn by the little bands of minstrels called waits, formerly in the employ of most towns of importance (fig. [187]).

In London the six waits appointed in 1475 had silver collars of SS with scutcheons of the city arms. At Exeter the four waits' collars, dating from about 1500, still exist, and are formed of roundels with X's and R's alternately (fig. [187]). Two beautiful waits' collars at Norwich (c. 1550) are composed of silver castles and gilded leopards alternately, like those in the appended shield (fig. [187]). The waits' collars at Lynn were formed of scrolled leaves alternating with dragons' heads pierced with crosses, like those in the town arms, which are allusive of St. Margaret (fig. [187]). At York the collars are formed wholly of little silver leopards, and at Beverley of eagles and beavers alternately. The waits' collars at Bristol date from the reign of Queen Mary, and are composed of pierced roundels containing alternately the letters CB. and a rose dimidiating a pomegranate.

Fig. 187. Waits' Collars of Exeter, King's Lynn, and Norwich.

The wearing of collars, or chains as they are called, by mayors, mayoresses, and sheriffs is comparatively modern. It was formerly the custom for every person of any dignity to wear a chain, and it was only when chains began to go out of fashion that the wearing of them survived among persons of particular dignity such as mayors and sheriffs.

The collar of SS worn by the lord mayor of London is an exceptional example, and the only other early mayor's chain is that given to Kingston-on-Hull in 1564 and remade in 1570. A plain gold chain was bequeathed to the city of York in 1612, and 'a fayre chayne of gold double linked with a medall of massy gold' was given to the town of Guildford in 1673. In 1716 a gold chain for the mayor was given to the city of Norwich, but passed on for the use of the deputy mayor on a new chain being given in 1757. Yarmouth bought itself a chain in 1734, and seven other towns became possessed of mayors' chains towards the end of the eighteenth century. Down to 1850 some fifteen more mayors' chains came into existence, mostly of simple type, like the older chains, with one or more rows of plain or ornate links. Since 1850 practically every town that can boast of a corporation has likewise got a chain for its mayor, and appalling creations many of them are, with rows of tablet links, and armorial pendants as large as saucers.

A simple gold chain to be worn by the sheriffs of Norwich was given in 1739, but those at Chester, Newcastle, Exeter, and other places are quite recent. In London it has been the custom for the friends and admirers of the sheriffs to present them with elaborate gold collars on their accession to office, but these are happily private property and not official insignia. The same description applies to them as to the recent mayors' chains.

Chains for mayoresses have not yet become general, but they are being multiplied yearly. The mayoress of Kingston-on-Hull had an official chain as early as 1604, but it was sold as being 'useless' in 1835. The lady mayoress of York has a chain of plain gold links given in 1670, which is regularly weighed on its delivery to and return by the wearer. All other mayoresses' chains are quite recent, and in most cases of the same fearsome design as those worn by their husbands.

The unfortunate mayors, mayoresses, and sheriffs are practically at the mercy of ignorant and inartistic tradesmen for the designing and making of the collars they are called upon to wear officially, but that is no reason why people with more enlightened ideas should not invent, design, and wear collars or chains that are beautiful in themselves. The examples already quoted and the many illustrations of others that are accessible will show what comely ornaments the old heraldic collars were, and many a lady would look well in a collar to whom a necklace is most unbecoming. Flowers, letters, and devices of heraldic import can easily be embroidered in gold, or struck out of metal and enamelled, and then be sewn down on velvet or silk stuff, or linked together by fine chains.