Welsh Journals

The St. James Chronicle of. November 11th, 1780, tells us that The company on Thursday at the Lord Mayor's Feast was very brilliant. The Order observed for keeping out low company -which used to gain admittance in former years -had the desired effect. There was plenty of everything. No disturbance happened, but the whole was conducted with such order and regular- ity as gave great satisfaction to all present. As soon as the procession had arrived at Guild Hall on the entrance of the Lord Mayor, an ode was performed by a select band placed in the gallery by the clock, in which Messrs Rembold and Ver- non assisted as vocal performers. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress sat in elegant gilt chairs, under a fine canopy at the head of their table, at which the Earls of Hillsborough, Salis- bury and Stafford, Lord Lisburne and Mahon, two German Noblemen, Admiral Keppel, Mr. Burke, Mr. Fox, Mr. Justice Heath and Mr. Sergeant Bolton were part of the guests. After the dinner the company inclined to dance, was prevented by want of music. After some difficulty a few musical performers were procured, which with the assistance of some of the guests-who to oblige the ladies-offered their performance, enlivening the evening." A mezzo-tint portrait-seen in the homes of some present-day Welshman of the line of Llew- elin Dalran-represents Sir Watkin at the height of his civic career, as a man of a very dignified presence; and doubtless his distinguished per- sonality gave some satisfaction in aldermanic circles. Probably there were many who admired the Welsh Lord Mayor in a suit of purple velvet most elegantly embroidered on an occasion- when according to the same quaint old pen-" he made a most respectable appearance." Another interesting picture of Sir Watkin Lewes has been reproduced in a well-known volume by Sir William Treloar, entitled Wilkes and the City." This print, which originally appeared in The Oxford Magazine of 1771, exhib- its Mr. Watkin Lewes in the slim elegance of his early thirties, presenting addresses in the Tower from the Counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen and Cardigan to the political prisoners, John Wilkes, the Lord Mayor Crosby and Alderman Oliver. The following lines appear below the picture Thus Ancient Britons, generous, bold and free, Untaught at Court to bend the supple knee, Corruption's Shrine with honest Pride disdain, And only bow to Freedom's Patriot Train. Sir Watkin Lewes was an enthusiastic Militia officer, and perhaps it was his love of military discipline that enabled him to maintain such strict law and order in the City of London during his mayoralty. The Morning Post of July, 1781, tells us that The general conduct of Sir Watkin Lewes as a friend to public liberty has been of the most unexceptionable kind, but his behaviour dur- ing his mayoralty and in particular on several important occasions has recommended him very highly to the notice of the first interests of the City." Possibly some of the lively spirits haunting the ancient alley-ways and taverns of London town did not altogether appreciate the inflexible super- vision exercised by the beadles of Sir Watkin, for one satirical writer-evidently hiding under a feminine guise-commences his paragraph in the Morning Post with For God's sake, Mr. Editor, step in and save us from this cruel Lord Mayor who is going I hear to deprive us poor girls of a little innocent mirth." But if the aristocratic Sir Watkin Lewes rode a high horse in the City, there is no doubt that he had the interest of the poor-and in those days too often down-trodden-folk at heart, and he was as ready in defence of their rights as he was intolerant of any unseemly behaviour, for when the Lords of the Admiralty insisted on sending a press gang into the City, he arrested the officers and committed them to Newgate. Sir Watkin has been described as pugnacious and obstinate but naturally like most persons holding prominent public positions he had critics of his conduct in London and elsewhere; but of his popularity amongst his fellow-aldermen there can be no sort of doubt, for as the writer in Old Wales, Vol. 1, No. 2, points out, he retained his Aldermanic Chair for Lime Street Ward for thirty-two years, and only relinquished it at the express invitation of his official brethren, who on the death of Alderman Thomas Harley, called upon Sir Watkin Lewes to assume the position of Father of the City of London and he accord- ingly became Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Without, on 12 December, 1804, and so continued until his decease." In spite of Sir Watkin's repeated defeats at Worcester his political ambition probably merely remained dormant whilst civic duties engaged his attention, and in October, 1781, it was gratified by the securing a seat in Parliament, as one of the four members for the City of London. His par- liamentary activities ended in 1796 when he was defeated in the General Election. Sir Watkin Lewes, who was Treasurer of the Society of Ancient Britons, took a warm interest in all that concerned his native land and it is likely that he extended kindly sympathy to Welsh musicians and antiquaries who found their way to London, for we see his name amongst lists of subscribers to old-time volumes, and we know that he was on friendly terms with the Historian of Pembrokeshire and other noted Cambrians. As the years rolled on, Sir Watkin Lewes- like manv another political character of his time-- fell into financial difficulties, and his last days were spent far from his Pembrokeshire6 home in 5 Another writer who is deeply steeped in genealogical lore tells us in 'Old wales Vol. I. No.6, that scarcely a vestige remains of the fine house which Sir .Watkin built near St. Dogmaels, and in which he entertained Fenton during his famous tour.