Perhaps the crier alluded to was a Mr Grey, who we know held the role in 1828. SOURCE: Twiss, Horace The public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon Vol 2. The man felt so offended by his now whigish leg that he insisted the only thing to do was to burn it to ashes. Whilst sound asleep in the street some political opponents has repainted the wooden leg yellow. The day before he had painted his leg blue in support of Lord Wellesley political party. There is a story from the nineteenth century of a one legged political agent paying the Windsor Crier to bring a crowd together to watch the agent burn his wooden leg on a public fire. These days the Town Crier is strictly above politics, but it hasn’t always been the case. In the Chamberlains accounts for 1628 we read that sixpence was paid for ” a brassen tip for a staff given by Mr Martyn vicar and is to be used by the cryer of the town in his office.” (Tighe and Davies – Annals of Windsor Volume 2 – page 94) John Mandy and William Goring are both listed as being paid in 1675 to cry about the perennial pig problem.īut even when names are missing, accounts provide fascinating insights in to such details cryers tools of the trade. Other names of early criers are hard to come by The chamberlain’s accounts for 1682 show ten pence “to the cryer for crying the streets to be swept.” Even this was a raise compared to 1666 when Thomas Round was paid sixpence for “crying down the fayre”. However, the crier was not always so well paid. In his 1862 book “ Windsor: A History and Description of the Castle and the Town” the author John Stoughton reports that in the later 17th Century the Crier was paid 2 shillings by the corporation of Windsor for reminding the populace not to let hogs loose in the high street. Town Criers in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Maidenhead’s last crier before me was Mark James Taylor who hung up his bell in around 1910. Windsor is last recorded as having a crier in 1892. Just like most other towns, both Windsor and Maidenhead had Town Criers in the past. The town crier was often also required to act as a law enforcement officer in an era before the invention of the regular police force. The key requirements of the role were literacy, a loud voice, and an air of authority. In Northwich in the 1790s records show that a woman had been carrying out the role ‘audably and laudably’ for over 20 years. Women have not been excluded from the role of Town Crier. It is believed that one reason for the lack of fatalities during the Great Fire of London in 1666 was the key role played by the London’s town criers in spreading the word about the disaster. However, not all criers did this so modern criers have the option. The tradition of delivering proclamations in rhyme dates back at least as far as the sixteenth century. The earliest named criers in English history are Edmund Ikelyng and Thomas Thorne who were both criers in London in 1395. The Bayeux tapestry features two bellmen accompanying the invading armies of William of Normandy. The crier generally carries a hand bell to attract attention, leading to the crier’s other historical name of the bellman (although some criers have also attracted attention with drums and horns). Royal proclamations, local bylaws, market days, adverts and newsworthy events were all proclaimed by the town crier. Town Criersįrom Medieval times, the town crier has been a primary means of news communication with the townsfolk. Phoentically it is written as ( / ˈ oʊ j eɪ /) but is most clearly understood when written as ‘Oh, Yay’. The correct pronunciation is with a silent ‘z’. So it could be translated as simply ‘Listen’. The word Oyez does not mean ‘oh yes’ but comes from the French ouïr, which means “to hear”. A town crier always starts with “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez”.
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