DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Wednesday, 08 December, 2021.

John Bavington Jones

Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.

SECTION ONE. DOVER CASTLE.

VIII. THE CONSTABLES AND WARDENS.

The long roll of Constables of Dover Castle contains the names of many men of renown, who have had charge of the ancient fortress since the days of Edward ihe Confessor. The whole of those who have been commissioned by the Sovereign to hold the Constableship will be mentioned in this list, while those who have made a figure in liistory will be sj)ecially noticed.

 

1. — GoDWiNE the celebrated Earl of Kent, was described in ancient records as the Lord Protector of Dover. As Earl of Kent, this Castle was the seat of his authority, and he was the originator of the fortifications which made it a great stronghold in the latter part of the Saxon PcTiod.  

2. — Harold, son of (Jodwine, was in charge of the Castle after his father's death. Harold and his masons finished the Saxon Keep and towers which his father began to liuild. Harold, during the time he was Constable, under Edward the Confessor, was cruising in the Channel, when a storm drove him ahore in Normandy. He was there the guest of Duke William of Normandy, who took advantage of his position as host by compelling Harold to swear that he would fortify the Castle of Dover, dig a good well of water there and give it up to William. Being in the hands of a high placed blackmailer, Harold had to swear to perform the promise or die, but he had no intention of making good the promise, for he did his utmost to resist William of Normandy and died in defence of his kingdom on the field of Hastings, leaving sufficient faithful followers to compel the Conqueror to take Dover Ca.stle by force of arms.  

3. — Bertram .'\shburniiam, who had been placed in charge of Dover Castle when Harold became King, was in c()mmand at Dover when the Conqueror ^nd his hosts marclied against it from Hastings. The resistance of the garrison, under the last Saxon Constable, caused the Normans tf) burn the town, and when the Castle was taken Bertram Ashburnham was beheaded.  

4. — William de Peverel, a Norman who fought at Plastings, was ])lace(.l in charge of Do\er Castle after the execution of Ashl)urnhani, l)ut after the ('on(|ucror hafl taken full possession of the Kingdom, it was transferred to his half-brother, Odo.  

5. — Odo, JVishop of Baieux, the Conqueror's half brother, immediately after the coronation, was made Con- stable of Dover Castle and Earl of Kent. Lambardc described this great Norman as being " busy, greedy, and ambitious," a very correct description for he was immediately very busy in ejecting the owners of Kentish Manors, and handing some of them over to Norman Warriors, keeping 200 of them for himself. He collected great masses of gold and silver intending to purchase therewith the Pai)al Cliair at Rome. The ambition of Oilo aroused the jealousy of William the (\)iK|ueror, who banished him from the Realm, and he died in exile.  

6. — John de Fiennes, third son of Eustace, Earl of Hiiulogne, was a))pointed Constable in io<S4. A docnmient in the British Museum states that " Willinm. Duke of Normandy, after he had by concjuest acquired (he Kingdom of England bestowed many honours upon his companions an(i nobles. Amongst others he endowed the Lord de Fiennes with the Constalilcship of Dover Castle in {)er])etual fee. He also gave the same Lord 56^ Knights' fees." Because of these words " perpetual fee " it has been asserted that the ('onstableship was hereditary, but the appointments of much later Constables contained words to the same effect, but the ortice was always held during the Sovereign's pleasure.  

7 and 8. — James de Fiennes and John de Fiennes, descendants of John, held the office of Constable, but whether they succeeded on hereditary grounds or were appointed by the Sovereign is not recorded.  

9. — W^alkelin Magminot was a[)pointed Constal)le by King Stephen. He was not a descendant of the Fiennes family. He was a Knight serving at the Castle under John de Fiennes IL When Queen Maud, King Stephen's wife demanded the surrender of the Castle in ii3<S Fiennes was away in the Midlan<ls and Walkelin, who was in charge surrendered to her the fortress.  

10. — Prince Eustace, son of Stephen, was made Con- stable towards the end of Stephen's reign, but he dying in  Walkelin seems to have been in charge again until the end of the reign.  

11. — Robert Fitz-Bernard was appointed Constable early in the reign of Henry II., but it appears that although Walkelin Mamignot fled at the death of Stephen, he was continued in his office until his death. Robert Fitz-Bernard was in oflice when the Norman buildings in the Castle were commenced. WilUam Cade, Prepositus of Dover was associated with him in the work.  

12. — Hugo de Mara succeeded to the Constableship in 1 169 and held it eighteen years.  

13. — Alan de Valeines, whom some writers have taken for Alan Fiennes, became Constable in 1187, and held office during the building of the Xorman Keep. The builders in charge of the work were William Fitz-Helte and William d'Enemeda, assisted by Philip de Pising, Godwin Fitz- Amfride. Walter d'Estrea, and Joseph de Dover. The building was completed in Ji88, and the money expended during the previous seven years on the Keep, with the curtain wall ami towers, was ^^4,500.  

14. — Matthew de Clera was appointed Constable in TiQO. Soon after he was made Constable by Richard I., Jeffery, a natural son of the late King, landed at Dover to take the post of Archbishop of York, his appointment having, it was alleged, the Pope's authority. The Pope's Legate in England did not recognise the appointmejit, and gave orders for his arrest on landing, to avoid which Jeffery fled for sanctuary to the altar of Dover Priory. By the order of the Legate, the Constable and his men-at-arms marched into the Priory Church and dragged him up to the Castle, where he and his retinue were imprisoned, whereupon several of the Bishops and Barons raised a force and released the Archbishop, who proceeded on his journey to York. For this violation of the Church, the Constable was deprived of his office.  

15. — Willum de Wrotham is the next Constable on the list, having been appointed A.D. 1195. Several other names are gi\en as having been in the otficc of Constable about this time, but they appeared to be unauthorised.  

16.— Thomas Basset, Lord of Hedenden, filled the office of Constable for a short time, A.D. 12CI.-2.  

17. — Hubert de Burgh was one of the great Constables. From his first appointment until he finally vacated the ofiice was a period of thirty years, 1292-1232, but from 1203 to 12x5 Xos. 18, Baron Huntingfield, 19, William de Longspee, 20, Geoffrey Fitz-Pier, and 21, Lord Torbay, successively filled the office for short periods.

 

Hubert de Burgh was a great soldier and an eminent statesman, so that such a post as Constable of Dover Castle was not an occupation to attract him in quiet times. After holding the position one year he took up more active service on the Continent, where he held the Castle of Chinon, an English pos.ses.sion, for one year against great odds, and when the Castle was shattered he and his men-at-arms advanced and fought a fruitless battle in the open. He was taken prisoner, but eventually escaped to England. When the discontent amongst the Barons looked dangerous, King John again appointed him Constable of Dover Ca.stle, which he held against the French through a long siege with famine fare and shorthanded. When the news came of the death of King John he still held out so stubbornly that the siege was raised, and an overpowering force embarked from France to carry the Castle by storm. The brave Hnh'ert, refusing to wait to be attacked in the Castle, put himself at the head of the Cinque Ports Fleet and met the enemy on the sea. Before he embarked he received the Sai;rament from his Chaplain, and to his Deputy, left in the charge of the Castle, he gave this imperative order: "If I be taken, let me be hanged rather than give up the Castle, for it is the key of England!" With the Cinque Ports ships, manned by Cinque Ports men, he sailed away, and, getting to the windward of the tran.sports, fell upon them with such effect that the French expedition was totally defeated within sight of the Castle walls.  

22, Henry de Braibroc, 23, Robert de Nereford, and 24, Hugh de Windsor, were Con.stables of no historic importance.  

25. — Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was Constable from the 30th December, 1223, to the 22nd January, 1224, was such a short time in office that he could only have been appointed for some S]jecial object, which is not left on record ; but the important part he played with regard to the Magna Charta makes him an illustrious link in the long chain of Constables.  

26, Geoffeiy de Lucy, 27, Hubert Hoese de Hoesc, and 28, Geoffrey de Surlaiid, were Constables between 1224 and 1226.  

29. — William de Averanch, Lord of Folkestone, is believed to have been the tirst Constable of Dover Castle who was also Lord Warden of the Cinque Poits. On the 1 2th March, 1226, a writ from Henry HL to the Barons of the Cinque Ports was issued on behalf of William de Averanch, Constable of Dover Castle, and Fenry Turgis, Propositus of Dover, appointing them Wardens of the Cinque Ports during pleasure. Previously, the Cinque Ports had been specially summoned to render service by the King, but from this date the Constable of Dover Castle was invariably Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.  

30. — Bertram de Crioill, appointed Constable of Dover Castle A.D. 1227, was the first regularly appointed I>ord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was Constable three times, from 1227 to 1232, from 1236 to 1242, and from 1242 to July, 1256, when he died, and was buried in St. Radigund's Abbey, but his appointment of Lord ^\"a^den of the Cin(|ue Ports appears to have been formally dated from ist May, 1236.  

31, Henry Hoese, 32, Lord de Segrove, ^;^, Hamo de Crevequer, 34, Humphrey de Bohun, and 35, Peter de Savoy, were Constables and Wardens of no historical note; except that it is of interest to mention that the last-named was a foreigner. Owing to the growing angry feelings stirred up by the reversal of Hubert de Burgh's poli.^y, " England for the English," Peter de Savoy was returning to his own countr}', but was stopped at Dover on 6th November, 1241, and made Constable of the Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which office he held until March. 1242, when he went with the King to Poitou, and Bertram de Crioill took the office, which he held till his death, 13th July, 1256.  

36. — Sir Reginald Cobeham de Allington was Con- stable for two years, and it is recorded that his salary was 50 marks a year, in addition to the wards of the Castle and the Passage allowance.  

37. — Sir Roger Xorthwode, who was ext.-cutor of Sir Reginald Cobeham, had charge of the Castle for a few months onlv.  

38. — Nicholas de Moels (Lord of Ciuidebury) took charge as Constal)le on 6th January, 1258, bui bemg soon after sent to ParUament by Oxford as a supporter of the King, he had to give up both the Constableship and the office of Lord Warden.  

39. — Richard de (jRey, Lord Condor, was appointed Constable of the Castle on the 22nd June, 1258, and. Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports on the day following, a sign that, although the two offices were now held by the same person, thev were separate appointments. He surrendered the offices in September, 1259, but was re-appointed in August, 1263, by Simon de Montford, in the interest of the Barons, and in December of that year it appears from the Chronicles of St. Martin's Priory that he repulsed an attempt of Prince Edward to take the Castle for the King. Sir Roger de Leybourne was also nominated as Constable at that time, but had not taken possession. Leaving the Castle at the end of the year 1263 to take part in the Siege of Rochester, he again held the Con.stableship in 1264, after which he took the field on l)ehalf of the Barons, and, finally, his estates being forfeited, he died in poverty in 1 27 1.  

40.— Hugh de Bigod held the office of Constable as successor to Richard de Grey in September, 1259; on the following day he was appointed Lord Warden and High Chamberlain of Sandwich. He was then of the Baronial j)arty, but, eventually, went over to the King, and trans- ferred the Castle intere.st to the Royal cause.  

41. — Nicholas de Crioill took the office of Constable in 1260, in succession to Hugh de Bigod, also in the interest of the King, and received at the Castle a sum of money which Albricus de Fiscampo and he sent forward to the King by two trusty messengers, John de Sutton and George de Dover. A few days later there was a similar transfer. He was specially enjoined to provide for the safety of Dover Harbour, but at that time the port.smen were stout .supporters of the Baronial party.  

42. — Robert de Walerand, Lord of Kilpek, was appointed Constable and Warden l)y the King himself, who was at the Castle on the 3rd May, 1261. His .salary was ;£!^4oo, deri>cd from the issues of Hie Dover Passage, the High Chaniberlainship of Sandwich, and the Wards of the Castle. At the same time he was Gustos of Kent and Guardian of Rochester and Ganterbury Gastles. He left Dover on special service in July, 1262, but was re-appointcd Ganstable in February, 1263. He died in 1272.  

43. — Walter de Burgsted was appointed Gonstable when Walerand gave up the office in July, 1262. These frequent changes in the holders of the Gonstableship arose from the Baronial war then in progress, makiag it necessary to move the King's chief supporters from filace to place where they could best serve him. In the previous year, when the King was at the Gastle, Simon de Montford had retired to the Continent, and there was a lull in the Civil War, but in 1262 the leader of the Barons had returned with a large army, and W^alerand was moved from the Castle to take active service in the field.  

44. — Prince Edmund was joined with Robert de Gascoyne in the Gonstableship on the 15th June, 1263. Nothing is known of Gascoyne, but Prince Edmund, being the second son of Henry III., probably Gascoyne was put in to do all the work, leaving the Prince to do the ornamental part of the business. At that time the Civil War was being fiercely waged with varying success. Parties feing evenly balanced, the matters in dispute were referred to the King of P'ranre for arl»itration, but the award which he gave was not accepted, and the war was renewed, culminating in the Battle of Lewes on May 13th, 1264, when Henry III. and Prince Edward were taken prisoners.  

45 — Henry de Sandwich, Bishop of London, appears to have occupied a neutral position between the combatants. After the battle of Lewes he arranged an armistice on the terms that the Gastle of Dover was to be given up with its arms, and garniture to Henry de Sandwich to be held by the Baronial party as a .sign of the King's sincerity, but after receiving the Ga.stle from Prince Edmund and Robert de Gascoyne he ceased to act as Con.stable. When the Civil War was over Henry de Sandwich was exccmmunicated, but before his death he made peace with the Church and the King.  

46. — John de Haia, was a leader of the Baronial party, and on the same day that the Castle was handed over to Henry de Sandwich, Sir Simon de Montfort sent John de Haia to take pos.session of the Ca.stle for the Barons. After holding the post a few months he gave it up to Richard de Grey for the Barons, but in December, 1263, Roger de Leybourne took possession of the Castle, by force, in the name of the King.  

The changes at the Castle in the year 1263 were rapid and dramatic. In February of that year the Castle was held by Robert Walerand, a staunch supporter of Henry III. In June he gave place to Nicholas de Crioill, also of the King's party, he having l)een appointed specially to exert his influence as I^ord Warden for the safety of Dover Harbour against the Portsmen, who were then allied with the Barons against the King; but, being unable to win the Dover Manners to the King's cause, in the same month he, as Constable and Warden gave place to Prince Edmund in the interests of Henry 111. ; the Prince succeeded no better, for in July he, as before stated, had to surrender the Castle ro Henry de Sand- wich, Bishop of London, in the interest of the Barons, but on the same day the post was transferred to John de Haia, also a nominee of the Barons. He in turn gave place to Richard de Grey of the same side, who was put into office as Constable when Sir Roger de Leybourne, who had previously been oper- ating on the coast between Dover and Sandwich, to prevent the landing of mercenary troops to aid the King, severed his connection with the Baronial party, and in December, 1263, seized Dover Castle for the King. A few months earlier, be- fore the Battle of Lewes, Prince Edward (afterwards Ed- ward I.) had an interview with Sir Roger, who had been his companion in his youth, and offered to him the return of his forfeited estates and the Constableship of Dover Castle with the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports if he would join the King's army. Sir Roger consented, and he fought side by side with Prince Edward in the Battle of Lewes, where they were both taken prisoners. During the armistice which followed, when it was resolved that Simon de Montfort should call a Parliament to settle the Nation's grievances, it was decided that Prince Edward should be kept in close confinement in Dover Castle, but Sir Roger was liberated on his giving word to appear to answer for his conduct before Parliament. The King who had also been made a prisoner in the same battle, after it was settled to permit Montfort to call a Parliament, was liberated and he went abroad. Mean- while, Sir Roger de Leybourne had his eye on Dover Castle, where Prince Edward was confined. Sir Roger was by promise from the King already Constable of the Fortress, and gathering some daring men around him, he, in December, 1263, siezed the Castle, making his Constableship a reality, and he released Prince Edward from confinement.  

47. — Sir Roger de Leybourne held the office of Con- stable and Lord Warden twice. From what has been already related it has been made evident that he was a brave and not over scrupulous warrior. He more than once changed sides, and was satirized in a political song, written in Latin, and which being translated ran thus: —

 

And Sir Roger de Leybourne  

Did to this side and that turn  

Self-interest to safeguard  

His turns and his crosses

 

Made up for the losses  

Before caused by Edward.

 

After Sir Roger de Leybourne installed himself as Con- stable in December, 1263, he only held the Castle for four months. It was not a post that he coveted except for the pleasure of winning it, and the satisfaction of liberat- ing the Prince. The Ports were all stoutly Baronial, and Sir Roger was glad to quit his isolated position, and take service in the open where he could do something effectual for the cause that he had espoused. He left the Castle in charge of his Deputy in February, 1264, and went over to France to escort the King to Dover, and directly on landing he marched with the King to Northampton. During his absence, Simon de Montfort, backed by the whole of the Cinque Ports, took possession of the Castle and placed his son Henry de Montfort there as Constable. From Northampton Sir Roger hurried back to Kent, and assisted in the defence of Rochester Castle, which the Barons were attacking, and with his aid they were compelled to raise the seige. Sir Roger de Leybourne was then a Constable and Warden whom the Ports would not acknowledge, and from whom the Castle was withheld. Under those circumstances the King appointed him Guardian of the Kent and Sussex Coasts. In the following year Sir Roger fought beside Prince Edward at the Battle of Evesham, when Simon de Montfort, the leader of the Barons, was slain. That was on the 4th of Augu-st, 1265, and on the 25th of the same month Sir Roger de Leybourne returned to Dover and again took up his office of Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden; but Prince Edward three months later, took both offices himself. It was two years before peace was fully restored, and then the Prince went to the Holy Land, and Sir Roger, who accompanied him, died abroad. His body was buried in Palestine, but his heart w-as sent to England, and is pre- served in the celebrated heart shrine in Leybourne Church, Kent.  

48. — Henry de Montfort, son of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was made Constable and Lord Warden on the 28th May, 1264, and gave up the Offices in the Spring of 1265, when he left to fight on the Baronial side in the Midlands, and he, too, was slain in ihe Battle of Evesham.  

49. — Matthew de H.\stings was placed in charge of the Castle by Henry de Montfort when he went to the last battle in the Baronial ^^'ar at Evesham, where he and his father were slain, and Hastings gave up the Castle to Sir Roger de Leybourne in August, 1265.  

50. — Prince Edward became Constable and Lord Warden, as already stated, on the 26th November, 1265. At that time the Cinque Ports were still in rebellion, the Barons of these ports being amongst the last to lay down their arms in the Baronial War. They had been much flattered by the Earl of Leicester, who asked each of the Cinque Ports to send four Members to the Parliament of 1265, given them a voting power far in excess of the other parts of the Kingdom. Prince Edward, when he became Constable of the Castle, was kind and conciliatory, and in March, 1266. he was enabled to say that he had overcome the last remnant of rebellion within the Cinque Ports Liberties. He soon after resigned the Constableship to settle the remnants of rebellion in Cambridge.shire, after which he went to the Holy Land.  

51. — Sir Matthew de Bezille, a foreigner, was appointed Constable in 1267, but was onlv a short time in Office.  

52. — Sir Stephen de Pencester was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in the latter part of the year 1267, and he held the dual Offices a Httle more than thirty years.  

Sir Stephen de Pencester was not a great warrior. He has been described as the Historian of the Castle, and in that capacity he did good work. Darell, in his history of Dover Castle, written in the reign of Elizabeth, says, " Henry HI. conferred the government of the Castle on Sir Stephen de Pencester, who wanted neither courage to face danger, nor patience and resolution to bear fatigue, nor a proper alertness in the discharge of his office. By his orders, all the records of the Castle, all the writings and instruments containing the rights, privileges and immunities granted to the Constables were collected together, and digested into a book, which he called ' The Castle's Charter Book.' This has been a great use to me," adds Darell, " in compiling the description of the Castle, and thereby preserving the names and cx])loits of several illustrious men from oblivion." Unfortunately, that record is now lost. Pencester made laws for the regulation of the Castle which .st'll exist, and although now obsolete, they afford insight into the daily life at the Castle 600 years ago. The first clause of the Statute says, "At sunset the bridge shall be drawn, and the gates shut; afterwards the guard shall be mounted by twenty warders on the Castle walls." Even now the form of the Statute is observed by closing the approaches to fortified places at sun- down ; but at those times the fortress was completely isolated after nightfall, and the rule was so strict that if the King arrived after sunset the main gates were not opened, and the King had to go to a postern where the Constable personally admitted him with only two or three of his suite, the rest of his company having to remain ouLside until full day. Life in the Castle under Stephen de Pencester took its tone from the old Church which still stands on the Castle Hill; and the Constable appears to have worked hand in hand with the Chaplains. A clause touching that point ran: " Because the Castle is out of common jurisdiction, at every quarter of a year shall the whole garrison be mustered in the presence of the Constable, any shall then be addressed and reprehended who may be accused of any r-otable crime, which ought of right to be dealt with by Holy Church, and if the Constable find himself in any perplexity thereupon, he may take counsel of some Parson of the Holy Church." These quarterly meetings must have had a civilizing and Christianising influence. Pencester was particularly careful that the soldiers should be regularly paid, and he caused Arsick's Tower, in the Western Wall, to be converted into the office of the Paymaster of the Garrison. This Constable did not, with the same regularity, receive his dues, for some time after his death his widow had to sue the Exchequer for arrears of his stipend. Sir Stephen de Pencester, in addition to his work as Castle Constable, was a great Lord Warden. He left in the Red Book of the Exchequer a correct list of the ships which each Port was under obligation to supply. His name is ?tiached as a witness to the Great Charter of the Cinque Pori-s granted by Edward I.  

53. — Robert, Baron de Burghersh, was first appointed as Deputy 14th March, 1297, undei Stephen de Pencester, and on 20th July, 1299, he was made Warden of the Cinque Ports. Robert de Burghersh vacated office on the i6th October, 1306.  

54. — Henry Cobham, of Roundel, in Shcrne, held the Office until the 30th October, 1307.  

55. — Robert de Kendall was Constable and Warden from November, 1307, to March, 1327, with the exception of short intervals when he was otherwise employed. In the year 13 13, when Edward I. embarked at Dover for France, the Constable was directed to pay ;^200 as the cost of the King's passage, and 13s. 4d. per day the cost of the archers left behind in the Castle. There was a good dfal of piracy in the narrow seas about this time, carried on ^y the Ports- men, and the Constable was accused of " winking " at it, for which he was brought to trial, but he was acquitted.  

56. — Henry, Lord Cobham, jun., was appointed Constable and Warden in 13 15, pending an inquiry as to the conduct of Robert de Kendall. He held (he office from February to September, when Kendall was re-instated.  

57. — Bartholomew, Baron de Badlemere, was appointed Constable and Warden in October. 1320, and held office until August, 132 1, another interval in Robert de Kendall's term. He was the " bold, bad Baron " of Leeds, Kent. In 1322 he was executed for an outrage offered to Queen Isabella of France, when .she demanded shelter at Leeds Castle during her pilgrimage to Thomas a Becket's shrine.  

58. — Sir Hugh le Despenser, jun., was appointed Constable and Warden in August, 1321. He was one of the favourites of Edward H. After nearly six years of Civil commotion, which led up to the deposition of Edward H., Hugh le Despenser was executed as a traitor, at Hereford, in November, 1326.  

59. — Edmund de Woodstoke, Earl of Kent, was made Constable in August, 1321, in succession to Despenser, who gave up his Dover post five years before his ignominious end. Edmund was the youngest son of Edward I. He joined the party in favour of Hugh le Despenser, and shared his fate, being executed at Winchester in ^larch, 1329. He was the third Constable in succession who was executed.  

60. — Sir John Peche, Baron Wormleighton, was appointed Constable and Warden in April, 1323, and held Office one year and one month. He was another of Edward H.'s favourites, v.'ho was tried for treason, but was acquitted. The five last mentioned Constables, whose terms were very short, held office during the intervals of Robert de Kendalls term, and Kendall was in ofrl' :c once more from May, 1324, to December, 1325.  

61. — Ralph, Baron de Drayton, was another of the supporters of Hugh le Despenser. He held the office of Constable for about nine months, from December, 1325, and then, leaving suddenly, Robert de Kendall, who seems to have been a sort of stop-gap, was in office again for six months.  

62. — Bartholomew, Baron Burghersh, a son of a former Constable Robert of that family, v.\ns appointed Constable and Warden in 1327, and held the Offices, with the exception of two intervals, until 1355. Owing to the disturbed relations between England and Fr;^'Me, the Lord Warden was ordered by Edward HI. to survey the ships of the Cinque Ports and order them to be kept in repair. The rest of the acts of Bartholomew had more ci nnection with the State than the Castle and the Cinque Ports.  

63. — William Clynton, Earl of Huntingdon, was ap- pointed Constable and Warden in 1330, and held office until 1343. a long interval in Baron Burghersh s term. He .sunmioned the Cinque Ports Fleet for active service several times, and he commanded it in the Battle ol Sluys, which was one of the great Xaval victories of England during those times. Adam Nurimuth, in his " Continuatio Chronicurum," describing this Naval action says that in addition to the Cinque Ports Ships there were ships from the north-east of England, commanded by Sir Robert de Morley, and that the Earl of Huntingdon was Admiral of the Cinque Ports Fleet, the King, Edward III., being in supreme command. The French were in three divisions off the port of La Swyne. When the first division of the French had been defeated v^ith great difficulty they defeated the second easily, many of their crews leaping into the sea. The ships of the third French division tried to escape under cover of night, about 30 of them being successful, but one of the French ships " James de Depe " attempted to capture a Cinque Ports sh-p belong- ing to Sandwich, but her crew stoutly resisted, and the Earl of Huntingdon the Lord Warden bringing other Cinque Ports ships to the rescue, a stiff fight ensued, the combat lasting until the morning, but finally the Cinque Ports men captured the " James de Depe " from the French in which they found four hundred men killed. Three years later this gallant Lord Warden gave up his charge to Bartholomew, Baron de Burghersh, when they were both jointly appointed Wardens of the sea coasts.  

64. — Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, held the offices of Constable and Warden from 1355 to 1359. He received ;^300 per annum for the support of himself, the chaplains, servants, watch and carpenter dwelling in fhe Castle and for their robes, derived as follows: — Of the Wards of the Castle ;£i46, out of the Customs of the Passage of Dover 100 marks, and the remaining ^({^88 from the King's Exchequer. The Barons of the Cinque Ports complained of him to the King that he heard, in St. James' Church, Dover, divers pleas from beyond the Liberties of the Cinque Ports, and the King forbade the Warden to encroach in that way on the Portsmen's chartered privileges.  

65. — Baron Beauchamp of Warwick, son of Guy, Earl of Warwick, was appointed Constable and Warden in January, 1359, and continued in office two years, dying in December, 1360.  

66. — Sir Richard de Herle. of Broughton, in Warwick- shire, was Constable and Warden from January, 1361 to July 1364. Edward HL, \isited the Castle in the last mentioned year when he appointed this Lord Warden Admiral of the whole of the English Fleet.  

67. — Ralph Spigurnell, a son of one of Edward III.'s Judges, was Constable and Warden from the middle of 1364 to 1369, a period of considerable activity. By the command of the King he sent leading men of the Cinque Ports to consult about the Navy. At the same time a commission was appointed on which the Lord Warden served to judge as to the complaint made against the Abbot of St. Augustine's Monastery that he by inning the Stour had stopped the ebb and flow of the tide over a wide area of marsh land, destroying the back water scour which kept open the navigation channels, injuring the trade of Sandwich and Minster.  

68, Sir Richard de Peinbrugge; 69, Andrew de Guide- ford; 70, William, Lord Lalymer; and 71, Sir Thomas Reines, were Constables and Wardens in succession between 1369 and 1376, during which time nothing ot importance occurred.  

72. — Edmund Earl of Cambridge was Constable and Warden from June, 1376 to February, 1381. He communi- cated a mandate from the King, Richard II., in the year 1380 to the Mayor and Burgesses of Dover 10 surround the town with a wall of stone and lime. Before that time there was no town wall, except one from the Castle Cliff along the shore.  

73. — Sir Robert Assheton was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden in 1381, and held the office three years. He had previously held the office of Custodian of Sandgatte Castle near Calais, and Admiral 'A the Narrow Seas. During his term of office he was almost continually occupied in the suppression of the Wat Tyler revolt. Sir Robert died at Dover, 9th, January, 1384, and was buried in the Castle Church.  

74. — Sir Simon de Burley, appointed Cons*-able in January, 1384, held office four years. Richard 11. was at Dover on the 5th January, 1384, and his Majesty handed the keys of the Castle over to Simon and as the Castle lands had suffered great loss, the King gave to him the Manor of Leybourne. Immediately after he was directed to proclaim that " the King's enemies in France, Spain. Flanders and Brittany were leagued together to destroy the people and fortalices on the English coast by an invasion within a brief time, and that all inhabitants of the Isle of Thanet and Oxeye and of six miles round Dover, Rye, and Sandwich were to withdraw before the 3rd of May into the castles and towns for safety ecclesiastics alone excepted." There was no invasion of the Southern Coasts, but four years later Sir Simon de Burley became a victim of intrigues, and was charged with an intention to sell Dover Castle to the French He was imprisoned in the Castle, and in May, 1388 wa-? executed for treason in London.  

75. — Sir John Devereux was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in 1388, and held the offices until 1393. There was a petition to the House of Commons complaining of this Lord Warden infringing the Cinque Ports' privileges by holding pleas in the County of Kent.  

76. — John Baron Beaumont was Constable and Warden from 1393 till 1396. In the latter year he went to the Court of France and arranged a marriage between the King Richard II., and Isabella, eldest daughter of Charles VL, of France, who was then but eight years old. He brought the young Princess over, and she stayed one night at Dover Castle. Lord Beaumont died while in office at Dover Castle.  

77. — Edmund, Duke of York, grandson of Edward III., was appointed in September, 1396, and held the otiice two years. Richard II., came to the Castle on his way to France, and he appointed this Constable to act as Regent during his absence.  

78. — The Marquis of Dorset, appointed in February, 1398, held office only one year.  

79. — Sir Thomas Erpynham was appointed in 1399, and held office ten years. He had won a good reputation as a soldier before his instalment at the Castle, but nothing special hapi)ened during the decade that he was Constable and Warden exxept that " the Commons of Kent " com- plained to Parliament of his conduct as Constable. Parliament upheld him, however, their opinion appearing to be that Erpynham had rightly been firm in upholding the old liberties of the Cinque Ports against the aggression of the County of Kent. He surrendered his office in 1409 to give place to Henry, Prince of Wales, Erpynham continuing as his Lieutenant. The last that was heard in history of Sir Thomas Erpynham was his being Marshal of the English Army at the Battle of Agincourt, and his throwing his baton in the air as a signal for the commencement of that decisive conflict.  

80. — Henry, Prince of Wales, took up the office of Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1409, and relinquished the position four years later to ascend the Throne as Henry V. He had many other duties away from Dover, but soon after his appointment as Constable he, in the name of the King, proclaimed a treaty made with the Duke of Burgundy guaranteeing the safety of trade in the narrow seas for three years ; and he, as the Admiral of England, and Erpynham, as Deputy Lord Warden, were authorised to enforce that treaty, which they did by calling out the Cinque Ports Fleet, the Duke of Burgundy, one of the parties to the treaty, being the peace-breaker.  

81. — The Earl of Surrey and Arundel was appointed to succeed Henry V. in March. 1413. After being at the Castle two years he went with Henry V. on his first expedition to France, but, suffering from dysentery, returned home, and died the same year.

 

82. — Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of Heniy V., was appointed by that King Constable and Lord Warden in 14 15, and held the office thirty-two years. His first duty, as Constable, was to challenge the King of the Romans, Sigismund, on his arrival at Dover. The Constable rode into the sea with his sword drawn to demand Sigismund's intentions and to obtain his assurance that he would not attempt to exercise any authority in England. After the death of Henry V., leaving Henry VI. an infant in arms, Humphrey, who was called " the good Duke Humphrey," was appointed Protector of the Realm during the King's minority, which made him one of the most powerful of all the Constables and Wardens; but after Henry VI. began to take an active part in affairs, Duke Humphrey, owing to his being Heir Apparent, was regarded with suspicion. He and his third wife, Eleanor Cobham, were bitterly persecuted. She died in Peel Castle, and Duke Humphrey, in 1447, died in prison, it being suspected that he was murdered. During the time of Henry V. this Lord Warden twice called out the Cinque Ports Fleet for service in connection with the French wars.  

83. — Lord Save and Sele, better known as James Fenys, son of Sir William Fenys, was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in 1447. It is said that his appointment differed from that of other Lord Wardens and Constables in that he received " in special tail for himself and heirs male, the Castle of Dover and all the services called Castle ^^'ards." Although these words look significant, the same form of words appears in many other appointments, but no one was ever Constable and Warden by inheritance, and in this particular case the entail was cut off by this Constable having his head cut off at the Standard in Cheap- side, in the year 1450, owing to his taking ap the cause of the unpopular Duke of Suffolk.  

84. — Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, was the next Constable and Lord Warden. He was appointed in 1450. He, too, was said to have some special tenure of the Castle, but it only lasted ten years; he was slain in the Battle of Northampton, 1460, fighting on the Lancastrian side. His Receiver while he was at the Castle was Thomas Hestall, whose ac(:ounts show that the emoluments of the Lord Warden and Constable's office, in those times, were ^1,160 a year.  

85. — Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, was next made Cunstal>le and Lord Warden by the King's warrant, but Warwick, who was surnamed " The King- Maker, " had placed Edward, Duke of York, upon the throne before that King made him Constable of the Castle. He held the office until 147 1, when he fell in the great battle of the Roses at Barnet.  

86. — Sir John Scott, who had been a Deputy of the Earl of Warwick, was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in 1471. He was one of the Scotts, of Scott's Hall, Brabourne, Kent, and was buried at Brabourne in 1485.  

87. — ^William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, was appointed in 147 1, and was Constable and Lord Warden seventeen years ; during his tenure of the office there were four Kings on the throne. He assisted as Lord Warden at the Coronations of Richard HL and Heniy VH.  

88. — Philip Fitz-Lewes. Most of the lists omit this name, but he is mentioned by some as Consta!:)le and Lord Warden, and he discharged the duties of the offices from 1488 to 1492.  

89. — Sir William Scott was a son of Sir John Scott (No. 86 in this list). Like PhiUp Fitz-Lewes, there is some doubt of his having been a regularly appointed Constable and Lord Warden, but he discharged the duties between 1492 and 1493, ^^^ ^^ was joined in a commission with Fitz-Lewes to levy a toll to repair the Wike at Dover Harbour.  

90. — Prince Henry, Duke of York, afterwards King Henry VIH., was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1493, and he held the office until he ascended the throne in 1509. Prince Henry appears to have given his personal service at Dover for some time after taking up the office, but when he became heir to the throne, on the death of his brother Arthur, he seems to have appointed Sir Edward Poynings as his deputy.  

91. — Sir Edward Poynings had been virtually Constable and Lord Warden from 1505, but he was not duly installed until Henry ascended the throne in April, 1509. Sir Edward had other offices, and his place at Dover was usually filled by Sir Edward Guldeford.  

92. — Lord Bergavenny was appointed successor to Sir Edward Poynings, but immediately resigned.  

93. — Sir Edward Guldeford was Constable and Lord Warden from 1521 to 1533. Sir Edward had been a busy and useful official before he was installed at the Castle in his own right. He had been the Deputy of Poynings, and it fell to his lot to make the arrangements for Henry VHL with his Queen and nobles to embark at Dover for the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He estimated and provided diets for the King and Queen and nobles for one month on this great scale: — 700 quarters of wine, 150 tuns of French and Gascon wine, .six butts of sweet wine, 500 tuns of beer, 340 beeves, 4,200 muttons, 800 veals, 80 hogsheads of grease, salt and fresh fish ;^300, spices ;^440, diaper ;!^30o, 4,000 of wax lights, poultry ^£^1,300, pewter vessels ^300, 5,600 quarters of coal, tallwood and billets ^200, pans and spits ;^2oo, stables jQzoo, making a total of £,'],67,t,. When he was Constable, in 1522, he had to victual the Castle for the King to receive the Emperor Charles V. On that occasion awaiting the King at Dover Castle were the Cardinal, the Earls of Devon and Wiltshire, the Bishops of Chester and Exeter, and the Abbots of Westminster, Bury, St. Augus- tine, and Bermondsey. This Constable died in 1533.  

94. — George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, was the son of the Earl of Wiltshire, and the brother of the Queen Anne Boleyn. He was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in 1533, the year in which the King secretly married his sister. George Boleyn sent to his sister a present of eighteen dottrels killed on the shore at Dover, and it is recorded that the Queen enjoyed them. It was in the first year of George Boleyn's Constableship that Henry VITI. commenced his great Harbour Works at Dover, and the Constable had a Labour trouble to deal with, the workmen having struck for a minimum wage of sixpence a day. George Boleyn committed four of the ringleaders to prison in the Castle. Before the Harbour Works were finished, this Constable had a taste of prison himself, having been com.mitted to the Tower in May, 1536, in connection with the charges brought against Anne Boleyn, and he was executed on the i6th of May in that year.  

95. — Henry Fitz-Roy, a son of Henry VUL, was made Constable and Lord Warden after the execution of George Boleyn. He died in the same year that he was appointed.  

96. — Sir Thomas Cheyne, K.G., who was the Treasurer of the Household of Henry VHL, was made Constable and Lord Warden in 1536, and held the position until 1558. He was a useful man of affairs to Henry VHL He received Anne of Cleves, the King's fourth wife, with a good deal of pomp at the Castle, but it fell to his lot to tell the Queen that the King would not abide by the marriage contract, and he was able to persuade the slighted lady to accept a Royal allowance and to live quietly in England as an ordinary subject. This Constable carried out repairs to the Castle, using the stones carried from the dismantled Abbey at Langdon. He continued in office until his death, in 1558.  

97. — William Brook, Lord Cobham, as Lord Warden and Constable, held office from the last year of Mary's reign to the fortieth of Elizabeth's — the longest term on record. The story of his Constableship fully written would be one of the most eventful sections of the history of Dover. As regards the Lord Wardenship, the glory of the Cinque Ports had passed away. The methods of government in the ports which the federation had built up were still effective, but the Nav7 of the Ports was giving place to a National sea force, as was proved when the Spanish Armada had to be encountered in the Channel. On that occasion the Cinque Ports did their best by combining ro supply two large ships and five pinnaces; but at that tii/.e, and ever after, the small ships of the Cinque Ports, of which Dover had supplied twenty-one, manned by twenty men and a boy each, were of no account. As Constable and as the Lord High Entertainer at the Castle, Lord Cobham figured largely. Queen Elizabeth visited him at Cobham Hall, and he received Her Majesty with great pomp at Dover Castle, when she stayed a week in the year 1573. Many of the Constables have received gifts from the Sovereign, but this one had the originality and artistic taste to present an acceptable one to the Queen, being " a petticoat of yellow satten layed all over with a parement of silver and tawny .silk, fringed with silver and silk, and lined with tawny sarcenet "; and, in return, he received from the Queen ^10 in gold and twenty ounces of gilt plate. This Constable and his Lieutenant, Mr. Barry, had much to do with the great transformation made in Dover Harbour during Elizabeth's reign.  

98. — Henry Brook, Lord Cobham, succeeded his father, in 1597, as Constable and Lord Warden, but he held the position only seven years. Lord Cobham, as the record reads, "being deprived for disloyalty." He was tried, with Sir Walter Raleigh, for being implicated in a plot to subvert the government and religion in 'he country, and was mean enough to plead that it was Sir Walter Raleigh who had been the cause of his ruin. He was condemned to be executed, but was reprieved on the scaffold. He died in 1618.  

99. — Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, was made Constable and T,ord Warden in 1604. He was created Earl of Northampton in the same year. He advised James I. to transfer Dover Harbour from the Corporation to a new body created by charter termed the Warden and Assistants of Dover Harbour. Northampton Street, Dover, is named after him. He died in 16 14, and was buried in the Castle Church, to which he bequeathed ^^20. loo, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset; and loi, Lord Zouche, of Haryngworth, Constables and Lord Wardens, call for no special notice.  

102. — George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was a friend of Prince Charles in his youth, and when he ascended the throne, as Charles I., it was alleged that Buckingham unduly controlled the King. In Charles's second Parliament Buckingham was impeached and, to shield his favourite, Charles dissolved the Parliament. In the following year, 1628, at Portsmouth, Buckingham was stabbed by an officer named John Felton, and died immediately.  

103. — Theophilus Howard, Earl of Suffolk, was Con- stable and Lord Warden twelve years under Charles I. He had trouble in dealing with soldiers and sailors, who were dissatisfied with their pay. As Constable, his gunners in Dover Castle engaged a Dutch ship which tried to cut out a Spanish vessel anchored near the Castle. They were successful for the time, but the next night, when the Spanish vessel weighed anchor, the Dutchmen captured her in the Dover Roads. This Constable, who died in 1640. was nearly always absent from Dover, Sir Edward Dering, Sir Thomas Culpeper, Sir John Mainwaring, Stephen Monin, and Sir Edward Boys being from time to time his Deputies. It was while Sir Edward Dering was Deputy that the Cinque Ports Domesday Book was lost.  

104. — James Stuart, Duke of Lennox, had a Kentish connection owing to his receiving the Cobham forfeited estates, including Cobham Hall. He was appointed Con- stable and Lord Warden in 1640, and, subsequently, got into trouble with the House of Commons for interfering in the election of a Member for Hythe. He soon after joined King Charles I. in the field; he was taken prsoner by the Parliamentary Army in 1646, but allowed his liberty on agreeing to pay a fine of ;£S,^'j6. He paid the greater part of the fine, and the balance was remitted because he lost his office as Constable and Lord Warden. Sir Edward Boys, M.P. for Dover, was his Deputy.  

105. — Sir Edward Boys, in 1642, succeeded the Duke of Lennox, and he was nominally in charge of the Castle in August, 1642, when the small band of Dover Parliamentarians seized the Castle and held it until it was garrisoned by the Parliamentary forces. Boys held the office until 1646.  

106. — Major John Boys, one of the Members of Par- liament for Kent, was Constable of the Castle from 1646 till 1648.  

107. — Sir Algernon Sydney, a well-known person in history, was placed in charge of Dover Castle by the Parliamentary Party in 1648, at a time when an attack upon it by the Royalists of Kent was expected. He was in charge when Sir Richard Hardres and 2,000 Kentish Royalists besieged the Castle and were repulsed. Two years later Captain Henry Cannon was appointed by Parliament to assist in holding the Castle, there being some doubt as to Sydney's loyalty. Sydney resigned his position at the Castle in 1651, and was employed by the Commonwealth in the Diplomatic service. When an old man, in 1682, he was arrested, and tried by Judge Jeffreys in connection with the Rye House Plot, and executed.  

108. — Lieut. -Colonel Kelsey was in charge of the Castle from 1651 to 1656.  

loq and no. — Colonel Lambert and Admiral Robert "Rlake were jointly in charge at Dover Castle from  

1656, but neither of them continued until the Restoration. Admiral Blake, a great national sea hero, died 17th August,  

1657. and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Colonel T>ambert, who appears to have been opposed to the negotia- tions which led to the Restoration, was sent to the Tower of London, from which he escaped in 1659, and tried to renew the Civil War. He was captured in April, 1660, tried and condemned to death, but in 1661 was pardoned, and exiled to Guernsey, where he died in 1694.  

112. — The Earl of Winchelsea was, in the Spring of 1660, placed in charge of Dover Castle, but soon after the Restoration he was sent as Ambassador to Constantinople.  

113. — Prince James, Duke of York, the King's brother, was appointed Constable and Lord Warden in 1660, two months after the Restoration, but he was not duly installed as Lord Warden until t668. A year later, he having avowed himself a Roman Catholic, he, under the Test Act, had to resign all offices, when the Earl of Winchelsea again became Constable and Lord Warden, which offices he held till his death in 1689.

114. — Colonel John Beaumont had been with Charles II. in exile, but was opposed to James II. 's attempt to leaven the Army with Roman Catholics. He was appointed Constable and Warden by William III.  

115. — The Earl of Romney (Henry Sydney), was a brother of Algernon Sydney. He was appointed Constable and W'arden in 1691, but he made no figure at Dover, Sir Basil Dixwell undertaking the duties as his deputy.  

116. — George, Prince of Denmark, was the husband of Queen Anne, and on her accession she made him Con- stable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden ot the Cinque Ports. His administration of the Admiralty was a failure, and in the Cinque Ports he was so little esteemed that a Mayor of one of the Cinque Ports had the bells rung when he died on the 28th October, 1708.  

117. — Lionel Sackville, Duke of Dorset, was a popular Lord Warden. He was appointed Constable and Warden in December, 1708, and he held the oflSces until 1765 with the exception of two intervals — June, 17 13, to September, 1 7 14, and September, 1717, to 1728 — when he had other appointments. On the death of Queen Anne be went as a special envoy to George I., to notify his accession to the Throne. He was very liberal in his subscriptions to any deserving cause brought before his notice in Dover. During the time he was Con.stable he gave to his friend, Captain John Smith, father of Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, the piece of void land under the Castle Cliff, where he built his residence, " Smith's Folly," and where that part of Dover called East Cliff has since been built. During the Duke of Dorset's time new infantry barracks were built near Colton Tower in the Castle and the regiment of his son,  

118., The Duke of Ormonde; and 119, the Earl of Leicester, who were Constables and Wardens during the intervals in the Duke of Dorset's term, left no record.  

120. — Robert, Earl of Holderness had been a Sec- retary of State in the Pelham Ministry, but being dismissed from office he received, as a consolation, the oflnlces of Con- stable and W^arden, with a salary of ^^4,000 a >ear, on which he entered in 1765. During his term there was a good deal of inconvenience caused by the south-west winds driving the shingle into the harbour mouth, forming a bar. He consulted the ancient pilots and mariners, but as their opinions were so conflicting, he ad\ised the calling in of Mr. Nickalls, a competent engineer, who, in many respects, greatly improved the Harbour.  

121. — Frederick North, Earl of (juilford, was ap- pointed Constable and Warden in 1778, when he was in the House of Commons as Lord North, member for Banbury. He was Prime Minister from 1770 until 1782. While he was Constable the western slope of the Castle was planted with trees, and the place, as a compliment to the Constable, was called Little Waldershare. Also while he was Constable, on the death of his father, the first Earl of Guilford, he succeeded to the title and went to the House of Lords. He caused a good many improvements to be carried out at the Castle, and one of his humane acts was to improve the condition of Debtors' Prison.  

122. — ^^'ILLIAM Pitt was the youngest son of the famous Earl of Chatham, and he himself famous too ; for, owing to his energy as head of the Administration at the time of the threatened invasion by the French at the beginning of the nineteenth century he was described as " The Saviour of Europe." In 1792 he was made Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and held the office until his death in ]8o6. He gloried in his office of Lord Warden and spent much of his time at Walmcr Castle, the rendezvous of the fleet being in the Downs right in front of the Castle windows. He entered with much enthusiasm into the raising of the famous force called the " Royal Cinque Fcnciblcs " of which he Ijecame commanding officer, but, in the initiatory stages he drilled as a private, and years after, when the Duke of Wellington was Lord Warden there was found in one of the bastions of Walmer Castle, part of a "kit" with the words "Private William Pitt" engraved upon it. Pitt had a great contempt for men who wished to figure as volunteers, but not to run any risk, and on one occasion there came to him a proposal from a number of London citizens, who wished to be enrolled as volunteers, but their projiosal contained many saving clauses, and when Pitt came to the stii)ulation that they should " never be sent out oi the country " he took a pen and wrote on the margin " cxcejit in case of actual invasion!" In 1803, when there was constant fear of invasion, Pitt armed nearly all the fishing luggers within the Liberties of the Cinque Ports with a 12 or 15 pounder carronade, and during his absence from Walmer his celebrated niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, acted as his deputy, fully sharing the Lord Warden's patriotic spirit. In 1804 she wrote " We are almost daily in expectation of the French and Mr. Pitt's regiment is now almost perfect enough to receive them. ... I have my orders how to art in case of real alarm in Mr. Pitt's absence." To equip the Cinque Ports Fencibles Mr. Pitt held a great meeting in Dover Castle, when ;£6,ooo was raised, to which Pitt himself subscribed ^1,000, and the Town and Port of Dover j£S8^. At that time 329 men in the parish of St. Mary-the-Virgin, Dover, were enrolled, and nearly all the Jurats and Council men were officers. Pitt died nine years before the power of Bonaparte was finally broken at Waterloo, but he outlived, the great crisis of threatened invasion.  

123. — The Earl of Liverpool was appointed Constable and Warden on the 30th January, 1806. At that time, however, he was in the House of Commons as the Hon. Robert Banks Jenkinson with the courtesy title of Lord Hawkesbury. One of the streets at the Pier was named after the title of Hawkesbury under which title he was called to the House of Lords during his father's lifetime in November, 1808, but he, a month later became Earl of Liverpool on the death of his father, the first Earl. It was during this Lord W'arden's tenure of office that he, as chairman of the Dover Harbour Board, ordered Mr. Horton, Surveyor, of Buckland, in the year 1816, to transform the sea front, which had up to that time been called the Rope Walk, into a building estate. The whole Bay Crescent and the Esplanade were included in the scheme, but the commencement of the building was at the back of the Marine Parade, and the street then formed was named Liverpool Street, after the Lord Warden. He held the office until his death in Decem- ber, 1828. Mr. R. H. Jenkenson was his Lieutenant at the Castle.  

124. — Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, became Constable and Warden in January, 1829. The great career of the Duke of Wellington as a soldier is well known, so is also, to politicians, his subsequent services as a Minister in Parliament. As a Constable and Warden, there was no scope for his energies where his predecessors centuries earlier had made their mark, because the Cinque Ports were then but an interesting historic survival, and the authority of the Constal:iIe was merely nominal. The Duke did not even think it worth while going through the ancient ceremony of Installa- tion, and he took very little interest in the other Cinque Ports, although, before he earned fame as a soldier, he was Member of Parliament for Rye. As Constable and Warden, at the Castle he was careful to see that the ancient compli- mentary offices were filled by worthy occupants. He dispensed hospitality as host at Walmer Castle ; he took special interest in the affairs of Dover Harbour, ably filling the post of chief of Harbour Affairs, created for the Lord ^Varden by the charter of James I. ; and he very carefully administered the affairs of the Cin(]ue Ports j)ilots in the Court of Lodemanage, which institution came to an end at his death when the Pilots were transferred to the jurisdiction of Trinity House. This great (Nonstable and Warden died at Walmer Ca.stle, 14th September, 1852.  

125. — James Ramsey, Marquess of Dalhousie, succeeded the Duke of Wellington in 1853, and was Constable and Warden until his death in i860.  

126. — Viscount Palmerston was appointed Constable and Warden in 1860. He was Prime Minister at that time, and his administration enacted a law which abolished the Passing Tolls, by which the maintenance of Dover Harbour had been paid for since the time of Queen Elizabeth and the Governing body called the Warden and Assistants established by Charter in the year 1604 was dissolved, and a new Harbour Board constituted. Lord Palmerston was advanced in years when he was installed, and during the four years that he held the office he was not able to devote much time to the Castle or to the Ports.  

127. — Earl Granville, George Leveson Gower, was appointed Constable and Warden in January, t866. He was never formally installed in the Court of Shepway, because at that time there was a dispute as to which of the Ports .should take precedence in that Court. This Lord Warden took up his residence at Walmer Castle, which had been the official residenr-e since the days of Pitt, and he was a leader of Society in East Kent as the Duke of Wellington had been. He devoted very much atlention to the affairs of Dover Harbour. He frc(]uently spoke in the House of Lords in favour of the construction of a great National Harbour in Dover Bay, but did not live to see it commenced. Almost his last speech in Parliament was in favour of the Dover Commercial Harbour Scheme, sanctioned in 1891.  

128. — The Right Hon. W. H. Smith, who was appointed in May, 1891, died a few months later, and never actually entered on the office.  

129. — The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava was ap- pointed in November, 1891, and his installation took place with all the ancient ceremonies on Bredenstone Hill, on 22nd June, 1892, whirh was the last time the Grand Court of Shepway was held on that historic site.  

130. — The Marquess of Salisbury was appointed Constable and Warden in November, 1895, and was installed at a Grand Court of Shepway, held in the grounds of Dover Priory, on the 15th August, 1896.  

131. — Lord Curzon of Kedleston was appointed Constable and Warden in 1904, and was installed at Dover in the Court of Shepway in the same year.  

132. — George Prince of Wales, was appointed Con- stable and Warden in 1905, it being nearly 500 years since a Prince of Wales was Constable and Warden. / special Act of Parliament relieved him, and subsequent holders of the office from serving on the Dover Harbour Board.  

133. — Earl Brassey, of Hythe, was duly installed as Constable of Dover Castle and Tord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1908, for which office he was specially fitted, having represented the head Port of Hastings in Parliament many years, and likewise, because he has been much engaged in the affairs of the Admiralty, and by examination was qualified to hold the certificate of a master mariner, therefore, in nautical knowledge and practical seamanship, fitted to follow the line of mariners from which the Cinque Ports originated.  

134. — Earl Beauchamp was appointed Constable and Lord Warden, as the successor Earl Brassey, who resigned, in November, 191 3. The appointment was hailed as being most appropriate, both on account of his own abilities and because two or three of his ancestors had held the offices in the Middle Ages.

 

If anyone should have any photos you think would highlight this page, please email me at the following address:-

LAST PAGE Valid CSS MENU PAGE Valid XTHML NEXT PAGE