On 12th November 2021 Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce, Lord Warden & Admiral of the Cinque Ports, signed & sealed the Warrant appointing our Historian & past Deputy Roger Tabor to the honorary office of Lord Warden’s Droit-gatherer for the Cinque Port of Brightlingsea.
The Lord Warden as Admiral of the Cinque Ports recorded in the Warrant “I am entitled to my due share of wrecks & findals & all Fishes Royal discovered within the territorial limits of my jurisdiction and since time immemorial my predecessors have appointed droit-gatherers to notify them of such discoveries to take them into custody and faithfully to record them that their proper disposition according to law might be determined”.
For translation: Droit-gatherer, officer who gathered Admiralty Droits or Rights. The Droit-gatherer recorded salvaged wreck & Fishes Royal. Fishes Royal, these are whales, porpoises, dolphins, sturgeons & grampus, to which the monarch has been entitled at least since 1324, or granted to the Lord Warden in his Admiralty Waters.
Roger is a biologist as well as historian, & monitors porpoise & other strandings at Brightlingsea, for the conservation recording scheme for the Natural History Museum, which is the official recipient for Fishes Royal (as neither monarchs nor Lord Wardens eat whales or porpoises anymore!) In that capacity he has been acting as an informal droit-gatherer advising the Lord Warden of finds.
By the 19th century Droit-gatherers of the Cinque Ports became known as Deputy Serjeants of the Admiralty of the Cinque Ports, the senior Droit-gatherer being the Admiralty Serjeant to the Cinque Ports Court of Admiralty. The Admiralty Serjeant also acted as the Dover Droit-gatherer.
Brightlingsea’s best recorded Droit-gatherer was John King in the 1620s who preserved the Lord Warden’s ancient privilege of oyster droit at Brightlingsea. From the correspondence between our 17th century Droit-gatherer John King & the then Lord Warden, the Duke of Buckingham we know that Brightlingsea’s Droit-gatherer wore the Duke’s ‘badge’ (cognisance) on his coat’s sleave & held a white rod of office in his hand.
Droit-gatherer’ Oath “You shall swear that as Droit-gatherer under the right honourable Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and their Members, deputed within the Town and Liberty of Brightlingsea, you shall well and diligently collect, receive, and seize all wrecks of sea, and other goods and rights there happening, due to and belonging to the said Ports and Members, and of all the same shall make sure accompt, and delivery and payment either to the said Lord Warden or to his Serjeant of the Admiralty, or to his deputy from time to time, as the same shall come to your hands”.
Each Cinque Port and Limb once had a Droit-gatherer appointed by the Lord Warden, but today only Dover, and now Brightlingsea, retain this historic office. In the past in all of the Cinque Port Limbs the Deputy represented the mayor of their Head Port, and the Deputy’s Assistants would today be termed councillors, and together they were the civic body. In Brightlingsea they were responsible to the Mayor of Sandwich. Over all the Cinque Ports the Lord Warden was a Lord Lieutenant equivalent as if they were a county. Unlike Lord Lieutenants, the Lord Warden was also Admiral of his jurisdiction, and his Droit-gatherers were his Admiralty officers in each Head Port and Limb, particularly as Receivers of Wreck. The Deputy and Assistants, and the Droitgatherer had common responsibilities to the Lord Warden and worked together, today all are honorary, largely ceremonial roles. In the Cinque Port of Brightlingsea the Droit-gatherer, as the Lord Warden’s officer, would accompany him in procession when he is present, as the Admiralty Serjeant does in Dover.
In the past during salvage work on wrecks by smackmen, the Droit-gatherer would record what was salvaged, and by whom, and the time they spent, so that not only was he responsible for establishing the Lord Warden’s share, but also what was due to those who salvaged materials, and due to the owners of the goods. His records were evidence for the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports. He also investigated those evading the legal storing of salvaged goods at the Cinque Port Wreckhouse. In Brightlingsea he also had responsibilities to the Lord Warden’s oyster layings, and acted on those doing harm to the layings. He arranged for Brightlingsea oysters to be sent to the Lord Warden. He also was responsible for Fishes Royal in the Liberty and for collecting ‘the anchorage of strangers’