[MR] More on the Tower
Jeff Smith
jsmithcsa at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 29 11:58:44 PDT 2010
Garth G. Groff said: "They must be NCOs (or warrant officers, I think)"
Warrant Officers in the UK armed forces, as they are in every military except
ours, are senior non-commissioned officers. In the UK forces, a warrant officer
2nd class is equivalent to our first sergeant/master sergeant* and a warrant
officer 1st class is equal to our sergeant major/master gunnery sergeant**. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_Officer_(United_Kingdom).
* E8 for those who track pay grades
** E9.
Barcsi Janos
JEFFREY C. SMITH
(Served with the UK forces in Iraq)
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are
few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous
and indefinite." --James Madison, Federalist No. 45
________________________________
From: Garth G. Groff <ggg9y at virginia.edu>
To: Atlantia at atlantia.sca.org; isenfir at virginia.edu
Sent: Wed, September 29, 2010 12:48:32 PM
Subject: Re: [MR] More on the Tower
M'Lord Donal,
They are officially known as Yeoman Warders, as per the scenario. They sometimes
called Gentlemen Warders, unofficially. This may be somewhat modified today, as
there has been a woman among them since 2007. (Last time I was at the tower in
2004, one of the Warders was quite adamant no woman would be, or should be,
admitted. I guess he had to eat his words. Maybe he was one of the two who were
canned for harassing their female colleague. It is a civil service position, and
is open to anyone who meets the requirements.) In any case, I used the term
"Beefeater" since that is how they are commonly known to the public. Probably
shouldn't have. Thanks for pointing this out.
Lady Sarah and I witnessed the Ceremony of the Keys in 2000 on our first trip to
England. As I remember it, the sentry did not come "on guard", but did move to
"port arms" (that's the U.S. military term for the weapon held at an angle
across the soldier's chest, IIRC from my own drill days 30 some years ago). Upon
response to his challenge, he returned to right shoulder arms and attention.
There was a considerable amount of boot stomping on his part. It is a wonder the
Brits don't all have bad knees and crushed heels. I also witnessed this boot
stomping by the sentries at the Jewel House as well.
In point of fact, the position is open to retired members of any of Britain's
military services, and those of the Commonwealth, except the Royal Navy. They
must be NCOs (or warrant officers, I think) with 22 years service, and certain
other marks of service distinction.
And they have their own pub (so I have read) buried someplace in the Tower
complex where the public isn't generally allowed.
For those who are interested, here is another Wikipedia article just on the
Warders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman_Warders .
Kind regards,
Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot
On 9/29/2010 11:57 AM, jbrmm266 at aol.com wrote:
>
> I've seen depictions of the Ceremony on different occasions; the aggressiveness
>of the sentry seems to vary. In one video from the 60s, the sentry remains at
>attention but come to port arms and calls out: "Halt, Who Comes There?" The
>exchange then proceeds as you descirbed.
> More recently, it seems to have become more militaristic, as I saw in a recent
>documentary:
> Sentry (bringing his assault rife to a ready position and crouching, looking
>like he's ready to open fire): HALT!
> CYW: Escort with the Keys, Halt!
> S (aggressively): Who Comes There?
> CYW: The Keys!
> S: Whose Keys?
> CYW: Queen Elizabeth's Keys.
> S (returning to attention and shouldering his weapon.) Pass, Queen Elizabeth's
>Keys. All's well!
> CYW: Escort with the Keys, Quick, March! (The Escort marches on.)
> The documentary showed the CYW briefing the sentry earlier in the day. He was
>a hard-faced fellow, a Londoner, from the sound of his voice.
> The CYW was not wearing his dress reds, but he WAS wearing a longish red coat
>over his working blues. I think that's a standard cold-weather issue for the
>YWs, many of whom are getting up in years. the youngest age at which one can
>become a YW is the late thirties, since one must have done 21 years in the Army
>or Air Force to be eligible. Sailors and Marines apparently don't qualify.
>Their mandatory retirement age is 65, so one could do two rather different
>careers in two rather different outfits.
> And they DON't like being called Beefeaters.
> Yours aye
> Donal
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Garth G. Groff <ggg9y at virginia.edu>
> To: Atlantia at atlantia.sca.org; isenfir at virginia.edu
> Sent: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 7:59 am
> Subject: [MR] More on the Tower
>
> Noble friends,
>
> In my recent post, I mentioned the Ceremony of the Keys, which is the ritual
>closing of the Tower gate every night. On a whim I searched this on Wikipedia,
>and found a page which describes this ceremony (
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremony_of_the_keys ). This is performed nightly,
>and is open to the public. A limited number of free "tickets" are available for
>each night, and they may be obtained by writing at least two months in advance
>to the governor of the Tower, stating how many tickets are required and for
>which night. It all takes place outdoors (between the Traitors' Gate and the
>Bloody Tower, then onto the steps up to the Inner Ward just beyond the Bloody
>Tower), so wear warm clothes. We were also treated to a ghost story by the Chief
>Yeoman Warder before being directed out through the postern gate (which is left
>unlocked, thankfully).
>
> If you don't want to take the time to visit the Wiki site, here is the text
>from the part of that page on the Tower (there were no graphics):
>
> "Probably the best known such ceremony is the one that takes place every night
>at the Tower of London <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London>, and has
>done so in some form or another since the 14th century. At exactly 9.53pm, the
>Chief Yeoman Warder, dressed in Tudor
><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_period> Watchcoat, meets the Military
>Escort, made up of members of the Tower of London Guard
><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Guard>. Together, the CYW and the Yeoman
>Warder 'Watchman' secure the main gates of the Tower. Upon their return down
>Water Lane, the party is halted by the sentry
><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentry> and challenged to identify themselves:
>
> Sentry: /Who comes there?/
> Chief Warder: /The keys./
> S: /Whose keys?/
> CW: /Queen Elizabeth's keys./ (identifying the keys as being those
> of the current British monarch
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_monarchy>)
> S: /Pass Queen Elizabeth's Keys. All's well./
>
> "Following this, the party makes its way through the Bloody Tower Archway into
>the fortress, where they halt at the bottom of the Broadwalk Steps. On the top
>of the Stairs, under the command of their Officer, the Tower guard present arms
>and the Chief Warder raises his hat, proclaiming:
>
> CW: /God preserve Queen Elizabeth./
> S: /Amen!/
>
> "He then takes the keys to the Queen's House for safekeeping, while the Last
>Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post> is sounded."
>
> Of course, the Chief Yeoman Warder is dressed in his red Beefeater tunic (today
>most of the warders wear a simple navy blue tunic for daily duties, and red is
>reserved for special occasions).
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot
>
>
> ========================================================================
> The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
> List Info: http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
> Submissions: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
><mailto:Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
> Subscriptions:
>http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org
========================================================================
The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
List Info: http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
Submissions: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subscriptions:
http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org
More information about the Atlantia
mailing list