Watford's Charter Day, origins of town's crest and Watford china

The reception of the borough charter by Watford’s first Mayor, Lord Clarendon, took place at noon in Haydon Road, near the corner with London Road; the borough boundary between Watford and Bushey. It was then carried in procession to Chalk Hill, under Bushey Arches, and along the thronged High Street in a motorcade of decorated floats. Once in Market Place, the proclamation of the charter was read at the Essex Arms Hotel (demolished to make way for Cawdells department store, which was in turn demolished when Charter Place was built in the late 1970s) and Watford was declared a borough. Afterwards, guests were invited to luncheon at Buck’s, a leading licensed caterers in the High Street, near the junction with Clarendon Road. At 3pm a public meeting at the Palace Theatre followed. School children were treated to an afternoon of free films at several Watford cinemas and, in the evening, they watched a spectacular firework display in Cassiobury Park. It was a day - and a night - to remember.

Charter Day procession, passing Ye Corner, October 18, 1922 (Image: Lesley Dunlop)

On October 24, 1986, Watford Cine Society presented an evening of nostalgia at The Pump House (now celebrating its half-centenary), with films of Watford from 1922 to 1975. The evening opened with ‘The Society Introduces Itself’, a publicity trailer made by society members, followed by a four-minute black-and-white film entitled ‘Watford Becomes a Borough’. The latter film covered the town’s long fight to achieve borough status, the receiving of the charter and the Earl of Clarendon as the town’s first charter Mayor.

Now Watford is celebrating the centenary of this memorable day when the town became a borough and was granted arms. Watford did have a crest, if not a charter, in the 19th century.

Around 1881 the topic was discussed by the Watford Library committee, of which Dr Alfred Brett was chairman. He sought a ‘device’ for use in the library then in Queens Road, for certificates of merit and books and for the endowed schools. He helped to identify those skilled in heraldry and the outcome was a crest comprising two harts representing the county, three wavy blue lines signifying the three rivers and a Roman fasces or ceremonial axe, marking the historic connections to the city and diocese of St Albans. By 1888, Watford’s first crest was in use, by which time the town was already an urban district. The Rev Newton Price sponsored the motto ‘Audentior’ (‘with greater boldness’). Amongst others involved in the initiative were the Earls of Essex and Clarendon.

Pre-1922 Watford crested china, Grafton (Image: Lesley Dunlop)

Watford’s 20th century coat of arms, based on a variation of the earlier ‘device’, was granted on October 16, 1922, two days before Charter Day. We’re familiar with the retained single-worded motto ‘Audentior’, but what is less obvious is its derivation from Virgil’s Aeneid VI: ‘tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito, quam tua te Fortuna sinet’ or ‘yield not thou to ills but go forth to face them more boldly than thy Fortune shall allow thee’.

Post-1922 Watford crested china, Grafton (Image: Lesley Dunlop)

When the town’s ‘device’ changed to a coat of arms, so did the decorations on the small white glazed crested china or heraldic porcelain ornaments that were so collectable at that time. So, identifying pre- and post-1922 Watford crested china is easy.

Few houses were without examples on their windowsills or fireplaces; little souvenirs of places visited that were popular souvenirs of holidays before and after World War One. Yes, Watford was a holiday destination in the early 20th century, judging from messages on the subject of sightseeing in and around the town jotted down on many of my early postcards.

Watford crested china stamped with Goodson's Bazaar, Arcadian (Image: Lesley Dunlop)

Pre-World War One, most households possessed at least one piece of crested china. Goss was considered to be of better quality, but there were numerous other makers such as Grafton, Carlton, Shelley, Kingsway and Arcadian. A goshawk crest and the mark ‘W.H. Goss England’ appeared on the base of Goss models, of which more than 2,500 were produced, bearing in excess of 10,000 decorations including salt and pepper pots, pin trays, reproduction miniature antiquities, toothpick holders and military landships; something useful, something to mark a period in time or a minding from a happy holiday. Goodson’s Bazaar in the High Street must have sold large numbers of the collectable china, as their name was imprinted on the base of many pieces.

As the town commemorates borough status and the granting of arms 100 years ago, Happy Charter Centenary, Watford!

Lesley Dunlop is the daughter of the late Ted Parrish, a well-known local historian and documentary filmmaker. He wrote 96 nostalgic articles for the ‘Evening Post-Echo’ in 1982-83 which have since been published in ‘Echoes of Old Watford, Bushey & Oxhey’, available at www.pastdayspublishing.com and Bushey Museum. Lesley is currently working on ‘Two Lives, Two World Wars’, a companion volume that explores her father’s and grandfather’s lives and war experiences, in which Watford, Bushey and Oxhey’s history will take to the stage once again.