Jewel House - History

History

A Keeper of the Crown Jewels was appointed in 1207. Over the subsequent centuries his title varied, from Keeper of the King's Jewels, Master of the Jewel House, Master and Treasurer of the King's Jewels and Plate, or Keeper of the Jewel House. He was also Treasurer of the Chamber, a division of the Royal Household of the Sovereign. In this position he was also called Keeper of the Court Wardrobe, Keeper of the Privy Wardrobe, or Receiver of the Chamber. In this capacity he represented the Lord Treasurer's interests in the regalia, and the wardrobe and privy wardrobe. Because of this the Receiver of the Chamber exercised delegated authority over the Crown Jewels, especially those kept at the Tower of London. These two positions were separated in 1485.

In 1378 the Keeper gained control over at least a part of the royal jewels, and had a box in which he kept them, with two keys, one for himself and the other for the Lord Treasurer. This was the beginning of the Jewel House Department.

The royal treasure was usually kept in the Tower of London, and at the Great Treasury, Westminster. Additionally, coronation regalia was over the centuries kept in the Chamber of the Pyx in Westminster Abbey. From the foundation of the Abbey in c. 1050 until 1303 the Chamber of the Pyx also held the general royal treasury. Most crowns were kept in the Tower of London from the time of King Henry III, as were coronation regalia from 1643, except for some items which were in the Abbey during the time of King James II.

The first Keeper (however styled) after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Sir Gilbert Talbot, was the last to exercise day-to-day control over the Jewel House. At that time he was styled Master and Treasurer of the Jewels and Plate. Spare plate was at this time kept at Whitehall, and later, probably, at St James's Palace. Very large quantities of spare plate were melted down and sold in 1680, and thereafter the Jewel House held comparatively little besides that which was held at the Tower of London - though much was out on loan.

In 1782, as part of a wider rationalisation of the Royal Household, the Jewel House Department was abolished, the Lord Chamberlain's Office taking over the accounting functions, with an official called the "Officer of the Jewels and Plate".

Although a treasury had been found in the Tower of London from the earliest times (as in the sub-crypt of St. John's Chapel in the White Tower), from 1255 there was a separate Jewel House for state crowns and regalia, though not older crowns and regalia, which remained at Westminster Abbey. This Jewel House stood by the (now demolished) Wardrobe Tower.

Following Richard de Podnecott's attempted robbery of the Chamber of the Pyx in 1303 the coronation regalia (such as St. Edward's Crown) were moved to the Tower of London for safekeeping. A new Jewel House was built near the White Tower in 1378, and by the 1530s the reserve of jewels and plate was brought together in the rebuilt Jewel House, on the south side of the White Tower. The upper floor was for the regalia, and the lower for the plate.

From 1660, as the Privy Wardrobe no longer remained at the Tower of London, a caretaker was appointed as watchman for the Master of the Jewel House. He later became known as the Keeper of the Regalia or Keeper of the Jewel Office at the Tower. From this appointment a separate branch of the Jewel House Department developed. When the latter was closed down the Tower of London Jewel House alone remained. From 1665 the regalia were on show to the public, and over time this activity of the Jewel House became increasingly important.

From 1782 until 1814 there was only the resident caretaker to guard the regalia and other jewels at the Tower of London. In 1814 a Keeper of the Jewel House was appointed. He had a servant as "exhibitor" - renamed Curator in 1921 - who was responsible for the day-to-day custody of the jewels.

The Keeper of the Jewel House gradually grew in standing, to approximate that of the pre-1782 Keeper. In 1852 he was recognised as a member of the Royal Household, though this ended in 1990 when the Tower of London became the responsibility of the new Historic Royal Palaces Agency. The post was combined with that of Resident Governor of the Tower of London in 1968, and a Deputy Governor (Security) assumed much of his responsibilities.

An assistant curator was appointed in 1963, and a second in 1968, when a new independent body of wardens and senior wardens was created to replace the former detail of Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London who had been responsible for the outward protection of the jewels.

The wardens, who wear royal livery, numbered 20 in 1990.