Boer War Commemorative

Aller Vale.  4 ins high

"God Bless you Tommy Atkins

Here's your Country's love to you"

South Africa 1899 - 1900

Tommy Atkins - or Thomas Atkins - has been used as a generic name for a common British soldier for many years. The precise origin is a subject of debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. A letter sent from Jamaica about a mutiny amongst the troops says "except for those from N. America (mostly Irish Papists) ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly".

 Sir Winston Churchill served and was a prisoner of war in the Boer War.

Coronation mug by Crown Dorset

3 ins high

"Borough of Poole

To commemorate the Coronation

of their Majesties

King George V and Queen Mary

21 June 1922

L.D.Ballard

Mayor."

The Crown Dorset Pottery was founded by  Charles Collard in 1905 in Poole Dorset.

While the mayor exhibited justifiable pride in local products by commissioning this mug. It is unfortunate, as Ms. Brisco comments, that Crown Dorset commemoratives are usually inferior to South Devon products.

Ref: Torquay Commemoratives, etc. p20. 

Coronation stein by Dartmouth Pottery

5 ins high

The Dartmouth Pottery was established in 1948 and existed until 2002.  Collectors interested in this pottery should order "Dartmouth and the South Devon Potteries"; by Matt White from our Products Manager

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place on 2^nd June 1953, and the whole country joined in celebration. The only problem was the typical British weather…it poured with rain!  But that didn’t stop people all over the country holding parties and in London the roads were packed with people waiting to see the processions that took place.

For the first time the ordinary people of Britain were able to watch a Monarch’s Coronation. It was announced earlier in the year that the crowning of the queen would be televised, and the sales of TV sets rocketed.  The pictures were black and white and the tiny 14-inch screen was the most popular size.

The Rotary Club of Chicago, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.  The Torquay Rotary Club was formed in 1920 as the first club west of Bristol, and initially comprised 27 local businessmen with the Mayor of Torquay as President. It immediately identified the needs of Torbay Hospital (then in Higher Union Street) and began fund-raising initiatives on its behalf, which continue to the present day.

This chocolate bowl was made by Royal Torquay in 1924 when the Torquay Rotary club hosted clubs from all over Britain and Ireland for what was only their fifth  conference.

This small shoe ( 4 ins long) was advertised by Hart & Moist as " Our late  Queen Victoria's first shoe" and as such is considered as a commemorative of her death.

Ref: "Torquay Commemoratives and Advertising Wares", Virginia Brisco p8

"Wesleyan Merrie England

Bazaar 1907 Wimbledon

Rev. G E. Young"

4½ ins high

This pot commemorates a bazaar which raised the funds that  cleared the debt incurred when the church was built in 1897.  The budget for the building in 1897 was £10,000 of which only £541 was on hand when the building started!

Ref: p15  The Guiding Light: A Century of Baptist witness in Wimbledon by Mary Bentley

"His sermons were fresh in thought, earnest and frequently impassioned in delivery, and powerful in appeal"

Ref:  Rev G.E. Young's obituary in the Methodist Conference minutes of 1916.

Society Plaque, 2004

This plaque was commissioned from the Torbay Pottery, a small pottery that still operates in Torquay.