From the Archives: The Festival of the Worshipful Company of Cooks
A programme of vocal music performed at the Star and Garter, Richmond, Wednesday 26 July, 1854
This programme was recently discovered in the file of Elinor Margaret Asdell (1868-1960, Member 00213) and includes an annotation noting that she donated it in 1953.
The Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond was first established as an inn in 1738. At the time of this programme it was still located in the green outskirts of London, rapidly becoming a suburban area, and the clientele came from royal and international circles. The venue was also sought after for such events as the annual fundraising appeals by various societies and companies, the attraction being that the rooms included a banquet hall, concert room, and charming gardens.
“Only one location seemed not to change, for the Ladies Summer entertainment was held each July at the Star & Garter Hotel, Richmond. Members and guests arrived in carriages, hired at the expense of the Company, and champagne was drunk. After dinner the company retired to the Ballroom, where there was a piano installed, and comic vocalists entertained the assembly. The appropriately named Mr Jolley asked whether the words of his songs for the 1851 entertainment should be printed and was told they should, which suggests that there was an element of audience participation”
Each piece performed in the concert was preceded with a toast, to the various members of the royal family, the national groups such as army and navy, and then the vital members of the Company of Cooks.
The singers were Mr Jolley, Clara Henderson, George Tedder, Mr Thomas Lawler (1818-1893), with Thomas Jolley at the piano. Thomas Lawler, a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, had established a group called the City Glee Club in 1853.
The programme, primarily of rather easy listening music of the period, included:
‘Benedictus sit Deus’ by John Reading (1685?-1764);
‘God save our gracious Queen’ by John Bull (1562?-1628);
‘John Anderson, my Joe’;
‘Hail! Star of Brunswick’ by Samuel Webbe (1740-1816);
‘O’er Nelson’s tomb’ by John Braham (1774-1856);
‘Search thro’ the wide world’ (from La fille du régiment) by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1840);
‘O! my love’s like the red red rose’ by William Horsley (1774-1858);
’In summer’s cool shade’ by Samuel Arnold (1740-1802);
‘Flow thou regal purple stream’ by Arnold; ‘Why are you wandering’ by Isaac Nathan (1790-1864);
‘The Oak and the ivy’ by Charles William Glover (1806-1863);
‘The brave old oak’ by Edward James Loder (1809-1865);
‘Could a man be secure’ by Starling Goodwin (ca 1713-1774);
’Mynheer Vandunck’ by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855);
‘I’m a roamer bold and gay’ by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847);
‘As it fell upon a day’ by Bishop.