ABBEY EFFIGIES

Evening Star, Issue 21753, 22 June 1934, Page 5

ABBEY EFFIGIES

A STRANGE SPRING-GLEANING The wax effigies of Royal and other personages in the Islip Chapel at Westminster Abbey are being restored to their former splendour by experts of the Victorian and Albert Museum (writes J. P. Noppen, in the ‘Daily Mail’). The first Royal figure to be renovated was that of King Charles 11., which, according to tradition, was made to stand above his grave, because he had no other monument. The last English king to have an effigy carried at his funeral was James 1., and the battered remains of it are now in the Abbey Museum which opens out of the Dark Cloister. None of the other effigies took any part in the Royal funeral ceremonies. They were made for show, by special permission of the Dean and Chapter, and at the expense of the members of the choir, who received a share of the fees paid by visitors to the church. The choirmen naturally wished to increase the Abbey’s attractions, and the figures of King William 111., Queen Mary, and Queen Ann were all made for that purpose. The effigy of Queen Elizabeth was made in anticipation of the two hundredth anniversary of her refouudation of the Abbey as a Cpllegiate Church. The Chapter order giving the necessary permission to the choir was passed on June 3, 1760. The frame of the old funeral effigy of the Queen seems to have been used as the basis of the new one. In 1779, the figure of the Earl of Chatham was added to the collection, and it proved so popular that an extra fee was charged to see it. The earl is shown making his last speech, and admirers were very enthusiastic in their praise ot the figure. “It seems to speak as you approach it,”, they said. Lord Nelson’s effigy was introduced Lord Nelson’es effigy was introduced as a counter-attraction to his monument at St. Paul’s, as the latter was drawing people away from the Abbey. The clothes of the admiral’s figure, with the exception of the coat, were all actually worn by him in life. The funeral effigy of King James 1., “ with several joynts in the armes and leggs,” was made by Maxmilian Coult, and cost £lO for the body alone. The face and hands, which were specially modelled, cost another £lO, and £4 10s for painting. A crown, with “ counterfeit stonnes,” was made for £5; but it got broken, and “ a better crowne ,y was ordered, for which £lO was paid. Daniel Parkes received £lO for making the beard and eyebrows. The accounts for all these items are in the Record Office, Chancery lane, London. The older funeral effigies of Edward 111., Henry Vll., and his wife Elizabeth of York, Mary 1., and Elizabeth Tudor were removed by order of James 1., in 1606, and at the same time the presses in which the wax figures now stand, were made,for them. On August 4in that year. James brought the King of Norway to see them. These ancient figures were mutilated and robbed of most of their clothing during the time of Cromwell, and they lay neglected until about thirty years ago. They are now in the Abbey museum, and are interesting relics of the ancient custom whereby an effigy of a dead king, wrought and painted to represent him as he was in life, was always carried at his funeral. The system of paying the choir which produced the later effigies came to an end about 1830, and fixed salaries were substituted. The “ wax works ” seem then to have been little valued, and on Hay 26, 1841, the Chapter passed an order for their removal from Islip Chapel to the room under the south-west tower. It was not, however, carried out, and the figures remain in the chapel, where they are every year visited by people from all parts of the world.