A Special Relationship

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A Special Relationship

By: Harry Walshaw

If the history of Britain can be told on its pub signs, then the same is true of the Americas and particularly the United States. This article is mainly based on signs in my collection and there are other names and signs that you will know of which I do not mention.

It is established that the Vikings landed in northern America but I cannot find any pub signs to reflect this. Legend has it that a Welshman, Prince Madoc (Colwyn Bay), sailed to modern day Alabama in the 12th century but the only possible proof of this is that, when later encountered by the Spaniards, the local tribes were fond of eating leeks and keen on male voice choirs (only joking folks). We just have to start with Christopher Columbus and his “discovery of America” in 1492 (surely the best remembered date after 1066). Columbus appeared on a sign outside the Bar-Celona pub in Sheffield but he never reached the mainland, settling for the Caribbean islands. I used to wonder how he could miss the east coast if sailing west from Spain but he first sailed to the Canaries before turning west. However his successors did reach the mainland and the Spaniard in Wakefield (above) shows a conquistador. Spanish expeditions soon moved northwards and reached California and Florida (by land and sea).

The British, French and Dutch (and even the Swedish for a short period) soon followed, establishing colonies on the east coast with mixed success. In the 1580s Sir Walter Raleigh organized several voyages of discovery. The sign of the Virginia Ash from Henstridge in Somerset (left) shows him smoking, with a servant about to throw a bucket of water over him.

Following wars in Europe the Dutch ceded their colony to Britain in 1672 and New Amsterdam became New York. Britain’s first colonies were further south, in Virginia; one of their leaders, John Smith, married Pocahontas, the daughter of a local chief. He brought her to England where she was feted and is remembered by a couple of pubs called the Indian Queen . Unfortunately Pocahontas succumbed to the English climate and was the first American to be buried in England (in Gravesend).

The Pilgrim Fathers (Scrooby, Notts) then provide us with a number of signs and names. The sign outside the Colonies in London SW1 (right) shows Pilgrims with the Mayflower (Southampton). Leaving Plymouth in 1620 they named their landing place New Plymouth in today’s Massachusetts. Although the Mayflower is one of the most famous vessels remembered today, when her sailing days were over she was hauled ashore, dismasted, turned over and used as a barn. The We Anchor In Hope in Welling, Kent shows the pilgrims praying on the sands for their relief from the voyage. Were it not for assistance from local Indians they might not have survived so it is appropriate that a couple of signs show them being welcomed. It is unavoidable to use the term “Indians” for native Americans, who we will come across in Part 2.

So in the 18th century the English had thriving colonies on the east coast, the Spanish occupied the west coast and Florida, while the French had eastern Canada and Louisiana. Wars in Europe between Britain and France spread to America and this gives us a number of names that basically consist of the Generals who won our victories (and suffered our defeats).

The most popular is the General Wolfe (as at St. Austell, Cornwall, left) because it was his victory, and death, at Quebec which brought Canada into the Empire in 1760.

Wars are expensive and much of the cost was raised by taxing the American colonies. They objected to paying high taxes whilst not having any say in Parliament (I am simplifying this account for obvious reasons, namely I do not know much about the subject). Civil disobedience was rife and the most famous incident was in 1773 when colonists dressed as Indians boarded a cargo ship in Boston Harbour and threw its cargo of tea overboard. This event was recorded by a sign outside the Boston in Holyhead. The War of Independence began in 1775 and the first major action was the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston. I have a 1990’s sign from the Old Union, its location being the village of Bunkers Hill, Lincolnshire, showing a patriot waving the American flag.

The British eventually surrendered at Yorktown in 1781 under Marquis Cornwallis and a sign outside the pub of this name at Chedburgh, Suffolk (right) used to show the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes (an interesting error showed the stars in red and the stripes in blue).

I am not sure if many readers have seen the film Patriot, starring Mel Gibson, with its brutal British officer Colonel Tarleton. Well, there is a pub called the General Tarleton near Keighley, West Yorkshire with the sign taken from an original painting by Joshua Reynolds, so clearly Tarleton’s reputation at home was somewhat better. The John Paul Jones in Whitehaven is named for the American (Scottish born) captain who landed and attacked the port of Whitehaven in 1778. The sign from this period that once hung outside the Constitution in Norwich showed two civilians signing a document under the Stars and Stripes. I assume this depicted representatives signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

George Washington had been placed in overall command of the Colonial army and the portrait outside the George Washington in Millhead, Lancs. (left) shows him in his uniform. He became the first President (the first six presidents were all born Englishmen) and his portrait can be found on many signs, often in older age. Until his death in 1799 he lived at his estate Mount Vernon, in Virginia. Whether the Liverpool pub is named for this seems doubtful.

So the Americans have their United States and we retained Canada. There are few signs relative to Canada. On the Isle of Wight there are/were pubs called Lake Huron and Lake Superior,

Brighton has a Montreal Arms (right) and in Ilkeston there was a pub called the Yukon.

The next eventful episode was the two-year War of 1812 between Britain and the United States, which resulted from the Royal Navy behaving as if she ruled the seas (which she basically did) and boarding neutral American merchant ships trading with Napoleonic France.

Three signs relate to this war. The Shannon and Chesapeake in Hebden Bridge remembers a duel between two frigates outside Boston in 1813 that HMS Shannon won and the USS Chesapeake was captured. The Constitution in London SW1 once had a sign (left) showing the famous frigate USS Constitution which was in frequent action. Today she is preserved in Boston Harbour and is the oldest warship still afloat (HMS Victory is older but is not in the water). The USA certainly had an eventful beginning with wars against Britain, Spain (gaining Florida) and Mexico (securing California

and other western states). Louisiana was bought from France, and Texas joined the Union in 1846, after rebelling against Mexican rule and becoming a Republic in its own right.

Finally the home of the US President can be found on several pubs called the White House, as at Guildford, Surrey (right); the building was painted this colour to hide the scorch marks when our troops burned Washington in 1814.

The second part of this article, covering the history of the USA from the Civil War to the end of the 20th century, will appear in a later issue.