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| The Portsmouth City Coat of Arms motto (above) was registered in 1929 - for more information on it, scroll further down the page ... |
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Portsmouth had been a Borough since 1835, following the introduction of the Municipal Corporations Act, but finally, on 21 April 1926, it was granted city status and the 1890 town hall became the Guildhall for the first time. The sitting Councillors and Alderman remained in office, it being assumed that they had already been elected to the Town Council according to the usual three-yearly cycle of elections and the first elections as a city did not take place until November of that year, when retiring councillors and aldermen were entitled to seek re-election. However, whilst the councillors had to stand against other candidates in their wards, aldermen were always returned unopposed - new aldermen were only elected to fill vacancies caused by retirement or death. |
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The roll of people who have served as aldermen on Portsmouth City Council reads like a Who's Who of people whose families, or own deeds have been prominent in the history and development of Portsmouth over many, many lifetimes. Eventually, however, the Local Government Acts of 1974 removed the aldermanic tier altogether. (Left: Town Hall opened 1739; Right: Town Hall opened c 1840) |
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| MAYOR/LORD MAYOR IN 1926 | ||
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| Frank J. Privett | ||
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| CITY ALDERMEN IN 1926 | ||
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| St. Thomas Portsea Mile End North End Buckland Kingston Highland St. Simon Havelock St. Paul Town Hall Fratton St. Mary Charles Dickens Cosham |
Sir Harold Pink, J.P. Frederick Power Sir John Timpson, J.P. Charles Dye, J.P. Alfred Hemingway John Mulvany, J.P. Charles Robert Stobie Col. Sir William Thomas Dupree, Kt. J.P. John Henry Corke, J.P. George William Corbin George Wallace Ash, J.P. Thomas Edgar Fulljames Ferdinand Green Foster Albert E. Porter, J.P. John Edward Pink |
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The Portsmouth City "motto" was first registered in 1929, but Portsmouth has borne its Arms, the golden star and crescent on an azure shield, for more than 700 years. In 1970, the Portsmouth Museums Society sponsored a petition to the Earl Marshal for a Grant of "supporters", Crest and Badge to complete the city's full Achievement and the city was granted the rare privilege of being able to bear a maritime version, echoing the Royal Supporters. The Unicorn wears a naval crown and the massive chain of iron, which is a representation of the mighty |
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chain boom that, from Tudor times, stretched across the mouth of the harbour, from the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport. The mural crown worn by the sea lion represents the land defences that surrounded the town from the time of Elizabeth I until the 1860s, when the Palmerston forts were introduced. It has been suggested that the original coat of arms was based on those of Arms of William de Longchamp, who was Lord Chancellor to King Richard I, at the time the town was granted its first charter, on 2 May 1194, but as William had previously adopted a coat of arms similar to those of his liege lord, there is no reason to suggest that Portsmouth's original arms were based on those of the king himself. |
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On some versions of Richard's first Great Seal an eight-pointed star was used. It is not known for sure whether he adopted this device as a result of going on the Crusades to Palestine in 1191, or whether it was a punning reference to the star called Regulus in the constellation of Leo, which is commonly known a "Cor Leonis", or "Heart of the Lion", a nice play on words on Richard's nickname, "Coeur-de-Lion". Richard created his second Great Seal, which includes both the star (sun) and crescent (moon), favourite Plantaganet symbols, as a means of raising the ransom money demanded by Leopold of Austria, who had captured him on his way home from the Third Crusade. Leopold demanded 150,000 marks, the equivalent of three years of Richard's kingly income, and about equal in value to three tons of silver. All documents previously authenticated by Richard's original seal were declared void, and thus people were forced to pay for new documents, which proved a useful, if very unpopular, source of revenue. The use of Portsmouth's city Arms is confined to the council, and only they can grant the use of the Badge to organisations with strong links with the city.
The City Badge comprises the city's ancient Arms on a roundel, crossed by a sword and anchor to mark the city's naval and military connections. |
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| And finally - and this illustrates how this site is likely to go on changing and developing over the years - I found the image above a few days after I thought this page was complete, whilst searching for material for other pages. It's from a postcard dated 1892 and it's obviously a hand-colouring of an original monochrome photograph. It's also clearly older than the black and white image at the top of the page, as the street light and electric cable aren't in the picture, as they are above. |
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