A letter yesterday from Ealing, London, reminded me of a famous toast and the presentation of a commemorative plate 169 years ago at a dinner which I mentioned in The Lion Hotel book.
Nigel Hill (pictured below), president of the Shropshire Society in London, thanked me for coming to speak at Shrewsbury School to his Society and to the Freemen of the Borough of Shrewsbury on Thursday, August 11.
.He wrote: “You mentioned the Hon Thomas Kenyon on page 35 of your book and I wondered whether you had ever had sight of the commemorative plate.”
I had written about the threat to the stagecoach service from the newest form of transport, the railways, saying: “When the Hon. Thomas Kenyon, of Pradoe, Shropshire, a famous whip, amateur coachman and Holyhead Road Commissioner, was rewarded with a commemorative plate at a dinner in Shrewsbury in 1842, a toast was drunk proposing ‘confusion to the rail-roads and a high gallows and a windy day to all enemies of the whip’.”
Mr Hill continued: “I and my three brothers were sworn in as Freemen on the same occasion as the late Colonel John Kenyon, a descendant of the Hon Thomas Kenyon, and John brought the commemorative plate with him to the dinner held afterwards.
“It is enormous, circular and sculptured with friezes of figures of faces. The piece is solid silver and kept in a solid wooden case lined with green baize. The shame is that it is too valuable to be displayed.”
The president added: “John Kenyon’s explanation for the award was for the Hon Thomas’s skill in driving his coach and fours through the archway of The Lion Hotel without slowing down.”
He concluded in his letter to me: “Thank you for getting our evening in the Moser Library off to such a fine start. Your talk was informative, interesting and hugely entertaining. I for one was only too delighted to buy a copy of your book for such a bargain price.”
If you would like me to give a talk to your group or organisation email John@jbutterworth.plus.com
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