Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/488

 482

NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. JUNE 20, 1911

So far no proof of this has been found, for, acting upon the clue here given, every docu- ment (in English) relating to the Forest of Dean for that date at the Public Record Office has been searched without finding the mention of any definite mark. But what was found bearing on the subject is as follows :

'* Articles of Instructions. You shall first, before the fallings of any such woodes and trees w ch shall to be cutt down for the supplye of the said Iron- Works upon warnynge to you gavin .... cause all the green and quick Tymber trees of Oake to be reserved for his Majesty and to that end to be marked w th some knowen fashionable signe or marke that the Cutters of the Woode may thereby be warned nott to meddle w th those reserved arid marked trees at their perill." Excheq. Special Commission, No. 3837, co. Gloucester, Forest of Dean, 28 Sept., 14 Jas. I.

The mark to be used not having been mentioned necessitated a further search back, which proved successful, as already recorded.

The earliest mention of the broad arrow as yet met with is in the Proclamation con- cerning it, and dated 19 Nov., 1661 :

" And His Majesty doth further command, That on all other Stores, Where it may be done without prejudice to the said Stores, or Charge to His Majesty, as Nails, Spikes, and other the like Stores, That the broad Arrow be put on some part of the same, whether by Stamp, Brand, or other way, as shall be particularly directed by the Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesties Navy, to whom the care thereof is committed." ' S.P. Dom. Various, No. 11.'

Then again, in 1664, owing to a difficulty in treating for merchant ships (because the owners, who were averse to selling their good ships, were ready to palm off upon the Government old and worthless ones, at prices above their value),

" It was accordingly ordered in Council that, it was the practice in all times to compel the Owners on extraordinary occasions, and therefore the Commissioners of the Navy were to put the broad arrow on any ship in the River they had a mind to hire, and fit them out for sea." At the Bodleian MS. A. 187, f. 3 ; at the Public Record Office, Adm. 1/5246.

These last two references upset the theory regarding the Earl of Romney's coat-of- arms, as he was not the Master General of the Ordnance till 1698-1701.

The Act of 9 & 10 William III. cap. 41 was due to the trouble in obtaining convic- tions for stealing, &c., " His Majesty's Stores of War and Naval Stores," when, there was no direct proof of the taking, &c., " but only such goodes are marked with the King's mark " ; and it prohibits any person other than authorized contractors from marking

" any Stores of War or Naval Stores usually- used to and marked upon His Majesty's .... stores, &c., or any other Stores with the broad arrow by stamp, brand, or otherwise."

It is curious that Shakespeare, who seems to have had something to say upon every subject under the sun, from " the Star Chamber " down to " a bare bodkin " (not being a Shakespearian scholar, I write this under correction), never mentioned " the King's mark " or the broad arrow, both of which, one would have thought, would have appealed more to his poetic nights of fancy than the aforenamed.

In connexion with the familiar symbol,, it would have been of interest to ascer- tain when the broad arrow was first stamped upon prisoners' clothing, but an extensive search has failed to discover thi occasion.

The Prison Commissioners when applied to wrote, on 2 March last, that they were

" unable to supply with any precise particular* as to when the broad arrow was first used to brand prison clothing, &c. It is referred to in the Public Stores Acts in 1875, but was in use many years before that date. It has been used in Convict Prisons and Hulks for more than 80 years, and was also used in Australia."

The convicts arrived in New South Wales in Jan., 1788, but up to 26 June, 1792, their clothing had no distinguishing mark, as Governor Phillip then writes :

" Frocks, trousers, shirts, gowns, Jand petticoats^ might I presume be made in India for this Colony, and by introducing one stripe of a different colour from the rest, prevent what is intended for the Convicts being sold to the soldier and settler * and such a distinguishing mark should be put on everything intended for the use of the Con- victs." C.O. 201/7.

And here it is of interest to note that there is a packet of patterns of materials sent from India in 1792, now preserved amongst the Colonial documents.

In a letter dated 28 Dec., 1801, Nicholas Bayly, Esq., of the N.S.W. Corps, states that he had heard from Simeon Lord (a noted dealer, agent, and smuggler) that " Governor King had ordered the broad R. to be put on a cask of spirits " which he had in his house belonging to him (Bayly). And Governor King, when reporting the case, 1 Jan., 1802, mentions he had " caused the King's mark to be put on the spirits " (C.O. 201/23).

According to an account of Thos. Courtney of 13, Finch Lane, dated 13 Sept., 1802 (C.O. 201/24), he supplied for the male convicts blue kersey sailors' jackets, and waistcoats with sleeves, Russia duck trousers, checked shirts, yarn hose, shoes, woollen caps.