Souvenir of Thundersley
From Thundersley Post Office
Is this possibly the only surviving example of a little mantle-shelf ornament manufactured by the famous Stoke pottery of Wiltshire & Robinson (W&R) under the brand name Carlton China?
It measures just 77 mm high and 85 mm wide and is made from bone china.
On the front it sports a Thundersley “crest” and the Latin inscription VINCIT OMNIA VERITAS – “Truth conquers all”.
At a guess, the two buildings represented on the shield are Thundersley Lodge and Thundersley Hall, two fine buildings which survive to this day as private residences (albeit outrageously overshadowed by urban development).
This ornament was a standard W&R “stock” item which was customized as a “souvenir” by the addition of a local crest.
Underneath the piece is the legend: F W Harrod, Post Office, Thundersley.
It dates from around the First World War, when Harrod ran the Thundersley Post Office situated on the Rayleigh Road, uphill and on the opposite side of the road from the Woodmans Arms.
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F. W. Harrod, who was actually Frederick William Warner Harrod, was the youngest son of “Bishop” Samuel Harrod. Like his father he had a variety of occupations before settling on becoming subpostmaster in the Rayleigh Road P.O.
A lovely souvenir. What would the relationship have been of F.W. Harrod to the grocer and ‘Peculiar’ Bishop Samuel Harrod?
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