Eagle-eyed visitors to the Society’s recent Art Exhibition “A Brush with Wycombe’s Past” were reminded on arrival at the top of the stairs in the Guildhall of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee back in 2002. A set of tapestries on the wall there commemorate the event.
Searching around for other tangible assets with Wycombe connections relating to past jubilee events, Society Trustee Jackie Kay was pleased to discover the Royal Collection Trust website. Entering “Wycombe” into the search box on that site returns details and images of 49 items with Wycombe associations many of which are of interest for quite diverse reasons, but among them, are three items that relate to past jubilee celebrations.
The most recent of these is a set of reproductions of 4 etchings displaying views of High Wycombe by local artist Lorna Cassidy. The set was created to commemorate the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977. The etchings include a view of surveying work being carried out prior to the building of the Octagon shopping centre in the centre of High Wycombe and views of Bassetsbury Mill, Bowden Mill and Pann Mill. They can be viewed here: Explore the Royal Collection Online (rct.uk)
Two earlier items of furniture in the Royal Collection relate to Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. There is a “Throne Chair” by Frederick Biggs presented to Queen Victoria in 1877 by Mrs Blagden, wife of the Rev Canon Blagden of Hughenden Church which can be seen here: Explore the Royal Collection Online (rct.uk)
And there is a Mahogany armchair presented to Queen Victoria also on her Golden Jubilee by “the children of the Borough of Chepping Wycombe”: Explore the Royal Collection Online (rct.uk)