3-082-113 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Relics of Archbishop Laud, 1895. 'The Chalice; Caudle Cup; Shell of the Archbishop's Tortoise; Archbishop Laud's Walking-Stick; Skullcap; Autographs; Bookcase Doors; the Archbishop's Chair...[Items from] the highly interesting exhibition of Laudian relics...in the school-room of Allhallows, Barking [to mark] the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the execution of Archbishop Laud...the chalice [was] given by Laud, when Bishop of London, to the Church of Holy Trinity, Knightsbridge. This most interesting chalice is silver-gilt...Few will fail to pause before the relic-hacked red velvet skull-cap worn by the Archbishop on the fatal morning of Jan. 10, 1645. This...is genuine, and the same may be said of the long and slender ivory-topped stick with which the old Archbishop was wont to support his very tottering steps...The handwriting of Laud is plain and bold, a fearless hand such as one would expect from the fearless man he was. His signature, "William Laud," written before preferment came to him, shows this...The fine old oak chair which I illustrate formerly belonged to St. John's College, Oxford...I also give a sketch of the shell of the famous tortoise, which had attained the age assuredly of one hundred and twenty years when it died'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.