attached to more modern buildings or groups of buildings (as Clement’s Inn above), although much of the original premises of Staple Inn has survived and is still in use by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. So, as an establishment which originally prepared students for admission to the Inn, these badges came into the Inn’s collection upon the demise of the New Inn.
The Breastplate and the Staves All members of Middle Temple will have seen and be familiar with at least one staff and the breastplate used and worn by the Head Porter when he leads the procession of Benchers and guests at formal dinners in Hall. The silver breastplate bears the coat of arms of the Inn displayed in a garland of flowers and acanthus leaves. It is engraved on the reverse with ‘The Messenger to the Hono.ble Society of Ye Midle Temple’ and with the letter ‘T’ above the initials ‘HC’ for Master Henry Chauncy, who was Treasurer in 1685/6. It bears the hall mark for 1686.
The Breastplate, used and worn by the Head Porter
being attached to an Inn of Court: Gray’s had Staple and Barnard’s Inns, Lincoln’s had Thavie’s and Furnival’s and Inner Temple had Clifford’s, Clement’s and Lyon’s. Middle Temple originally had Strand and St George’s Inns. The Strand Inn may also have been referred to as Chester Inn as the premises were close by the London house of the Bishop of Chester. However, in the 16th Century, those premises, which were situated near the church of St Mary le Strand (the church still in the Strand, now opposite the main entrance to King’s College), were taken and demolished to allow for the erection of Somerset House. At about the same time the students of St George’s Inn joined their fellows from Strand Inn, because their buildings were falling into disrepair and, at the eastern end of Fleet Street, were some distance from Middle Temple. The students removed to (the then aptly named) New Inn which was established immediately to the west of Clement’s Inn in the premises of a hostelry or ‘common Inn’ which had operated under the sign of the Virgin Mary as ‘Our Lady Inn’. The site of Clement’s Inn is immediately to the west of the Royal Courts of Justice and, although nothing remains of the original buildings of either of these Inns, the buildings now there, many occupied by the London School of Economics and Political Science, retain the name Clement’s Inn. In the 17th Century the Inns of Court started excluding lawyers who were not to practise or who were not practising at the Bar. Thus, solicitors and attorneys became the sole members of the Inns of Chancery, although it is evident that some connections between the Inns of Court and their Inns of Chancery continued until the latter were finally dissolved in the late 19th or very early in the 20th Century. All that remain of most of them are their names
The three staves are, first and grandest the Inn’s Temple Church Staff. At its head is a Lamb and Flag cast in silver as the finial mounted on a silver pommel and collar, which is hallmarked for 1684. The shaft of the staff is lignum vitae – said to be the densest wood of all. In procession in the Temple Church it is born by the Head Porter alongside his Inner Temple counterpart bearing that Inn’s Church Staff; this is dated to about 1705, fashioned from bamboo with a handsome silver finial mounted with the Pegasus of the Inner Temple. The second staff is the Head Porter’s made of ebony with a silver finial engraved on the top with the Lamb and Flag. It is also engraved, on the upper section, with the date 1733 with a ‘T’ above ‘CW’, although the staff is thought to be earlier, there being no hallmark to verify a date of its making. It is also engraved with the words: ‘This Staff Belongs To Ye Honble Society Of Ye Middle Temple’. It has a brass ferule at its foot. The third staff is the Under Porter’s. The silver finial is engraved on the top with the Lamb and Flag and, on the upper section, similarly to the Head Porter’s but with the date 1755 and the cipher for the Treasurer of that year, Master Benjamin Smart – ‘T’ above ‘BS’. The shaft is made of elm and is thought to be a 19th Century replacement of the 18th Century original. It too has a brass ferule. The brass ferules on the feet of the Head and Under Porters’ staves have had to be sturdy. They have had to withstand the three loud and measured blows on the floor (as have the oak floorboards) administered by their bearers in order to announce to the members of Hall that the processions to and from the High Table are about to start. It is curious that those three measured blows are the same as are used elsewhere; most curiously in the mind of the writer as those given at La Comédie Française to announce the raising of the curtain and the start of the performance. But research as to any link between the two will have to await another day. Amongst so many other much more important things in the Inn, one effect of Covid-19 has been the delay in the completion of the display cabinets for a rotating display of items from the Inn’s silver collection. The cabinets have been installed in the vestibule outside Master Treasurer’s room, but final insurance inspection, internal finishes and the finalising of the first items to be displayed have yet to be completed. It is to be hoped that this may be achieved by the end of the year.
2020 Middle Templar
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