YEOMEN OF THE GUARD

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 14

YEOMEN OF THE GUARD

KNOWN IN LONDON AS "BEEF

EATERS."

Recently, iri .: the •'.'.. grounds of 'St. James's Palace, the Duke,of Cpnnaught inspected the . King's' Body Guard—the Yeomen of' the • Guard; '■; instituted 'by Henry VII: on his coronation. on 30th October, ; 14857'states the .'^Daily. Mail."! During the Commonwealth it almost be-!! came extinct, but a few of its members' were attached 4o King Charles 11. dur-< mg his exile. . The remnant of the old' Body Guard -were gathered -together -' ' again by the then Captain oj the Guard, *' the Earl of Norwich, and they were' ready to receive^ their King on" his >re-" turn to England on the Restoration. ..; Most Londoners are familiar with"-their stately appearance at all Royal pageants and ceremonies, such as the open-, ing of Parliament. Great interest is always awakened by their pictuwsque and historical dress, which is almost the: ■same as that worn in 1510, and by their ancient weapon, the partisane (a kind of half-pike), which took the place of the earlier "bill" or "halbard" about the time of the Restoration • , Originally the ■ Yeomen . were armed 3nn -bOW and Henry Vm- adde<l 100 mounted Yeomen ,to the Guard, half of whom were armed with the arquebus, but later they carried carbines j the carbine belt is still worn on parade. They' have always carried swords: How they derived their sobriquet of Beefeaters" is difficult to trace; most' authorities seem to doubt that it is from buffetier. Mr. Pege, writing in 1791. states that although one of their duties was to cany the dishes to the Royal table, the Yeomen never had charge oi the buffet.

The following amusing story is told as a likely origin of the term:— _ Henry VIII., when hunting near Reading Abbey, disguised himself in the uniform of his Yeomen of the Guard, and called upon the abbot, who made him welcome and invited him to dine at his own table, where the principal dish, a joint of roast beef, was greedily eatet by the "hungry hunter." The abbot was amazed at his appetite and remarked: "I would give an hundred pounds to be able to eat of beef. as. heartily as you." , Shortly afterwards the abbot was arrested and imprisoned in the. Tower, and for several days was fed only on bread and water.

One day, to his delight, ,a joint of roast beef was placed before him, and he proceded to demolish it with rare appetite. While he was thus employed the King entered, and demanded a hundred . pounds, for having • restored the abbot's lost appetite for roast beef. Hence Beef-eater. •