3-034-883 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Installation of the new Constable of the Tower [of London], 1871. 'Field Marshal Sir George Pollock was...duly installed as Lieutenant of the Tower and Governor of the Royal palace and fortress...The ceremony took place in the Tower-green..The yeomen wardens [sic] were then formed in semicircle,...looking gaily historic in their ancient liveries, and supporting their formidable halberts...Mr. Richards, the Deputy Coroner, read the Queen's patent appointing Sir George Pollock Custos Rotulorum and Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets. Mr. Ratcliff afterwards read Sir George's appointment as Governor of the Royal Palace and Tower...by the assistance of "port lights" [due to thick fog]...at the conclusion of which Lord Chamberlain Sydney handed the keys of the Tower, in the Queen's name, to the new Lieutenant, who in turn handed them over to the Fort Major, Colonel Milman; whereupon Yeoman Porter Hughes cried aloud, "God save the Queen," to which the warders responded, "Amen." The troops then presented arms to the keys, and the band of the Scots Fusiliers played the National Anthem. The various officers of the Tower having been presented to Sir George Pollock, the new Lieutenant took possession of the Governor's house, and so the ceremony ended'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.