Object of the Month: April 2015

By Matthew Abel, Exhibitions Team Leader

Welcome to the next in our series of “Objects of the Month”. Each month, we will be researching and writing about a different object from the museum’s collection, which will be displayed at the entrance to the main galleries. With over half of the collection in storage, this is a great chance to showcase some hidden gems which may not have been on display before.

This month we look to the next royal birth for inspiration.

A flood of royal memorabilia will be produced when the Duchess of Cambridge’s second child is born this month, but this is not a new phenomenon. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds examples of royal souvenirs produced as early as the mid-17th century.

This partially reconstructed fragment of a glazed stoneware tankard was discovered during archaeological excavations in Romford Market Place in 1984-5.

Image – Fragment of stoneware tankard, B12.6

The inscribed date ‘1762’ identifies the king in the portrait relief as George III (r. 1760-1820). Therefore it is possible that the tankard was made to commemorate the birth of his son, George, Prince of Wales (later George IV), that year.

Image – ‘George III, Queen Charlotte and their Six Eldest Children’ by Johann Zoffany, 1770. Wikimedia Commons

Alternatively, the tankard may have had a royal design to show that it came from the King’s Head pub on the south side of Romford Market Place.

Image – The King’s Head, by A. B. Bamford, 1894. Courtesy of Havering Libraries Local Studies & Family History Centre.]

You can view the object of the month in Havering Museum from 1st April in the display case at the entrance to the museum’s galleries.