While documents are still in existence and certain facts are still in my memory, I am anxious to leave on record
an account of the Hubbard Ring and the Grant of Arms to the descendants of my Father, John Waddington Hubbard.
It was in the summer of 1915 that my friend, the Rev. D.H.S. Cranage of Cambridge, wrote and told me that a friend of his, a Mr.
A. E. Clarke, had had in his possession, at one time, a heavy gold ring bearing the Arms of the Hubbard family. Dr. Cranage urged me to buy the ring: but at first I was not disposed to do so, feeling as I did,
that my particular branch of the Hubbard race could not prove any title to them.
Subsequently I considered that the ring might be worth buying and I therefore wrote to Dr. Cranage to that effect and he kindly
forwarded my letter to Mr. Clarke.
As will appear from the correspondence, a miller and a small farmer at West Walton, Norfolk, after harrowing a field found the ring on one of the tines of his harrow.
Mr. Clarke bought the ring from the miller and sold it, together with a letter from
Sir John Evans, to a Mr. Welldon of Wellingbourgh.
At Mr. Welldon's death it was again sold with two other rings by Frank Knight & Rutley, Auctioneers, on July 24th 1914.
A certain Mr. Joseph Brooks bought the three rings in one lot at the Auction, and
I subsequently bought the same three rings from Mr. Brookes.
After this short account the correspondence will be more clearly understood.
The first letter I have from Mr. Clarke to myself is as follows:
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"Inisfail" Dear Mr Hubbard, Our friend Dr. Cranage has shown me your letter. I am, G Hubbard Esq. |
The “sort of letter” referred to by Mr. Clarke was a letter from Mr. Brooke to Mr. Clarke. It is a quaintly worded letter and as it is referred to in the correspondence, I give a literal transcript:
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10 Cambridge Rod.
They are the same rings I bought at Knight Frank & Rutely on July 24 1914 Lot 31. They have not been out of my possession since I cleared them. I cannot sent you a wax impression of them. You are a stranger to me, and if you mean business, you can send me the cash for them and I will send them to you by Register Post or I will deliverer them to your London Agent on Payment of Cash. If these terms do not suit you, please do not write again about them. I am, Sir,
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From the tone of Mr. Brook’s letter to Mr. Clarke, I did not feel that this document was likely to be of much service to me. Money was what Mr. Brooks wanted and so long as he secured that, I felt certain that he would he disposed to dispense with introductory formalities.
I took an early opportunity of motoring over from Eltham to Bromley and after some little difficulty I found 10 Cambridge Road.
It was a very humble dwelling and though I knocked and rang there was a suspicious stillness in the house. Obviously no one was at home.
A second visit on October 3rd 1915 was more successful. A gaunt slatternly woman opened the door. Mr Brooks was at home and the woman
showed me into a tiny sitting room where I was left to await the arrival of Mr. Joseph Brooks.
When he appeared I told him I had heard from Mr. Clarke and that I had come over to see the rings, about which Mr. Clarke had written to him.
I soon concluded my bargain and bought the three rings for £18. Two I sent to Mr. Clarke, the receipt of which he
acknowledged in the following letter:
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‘Inisfail’ Dear Mr. Hubbard, I am, G. Hubbard Esq. |
In another letter I had further information from Mr. Clarke. I am therefore quoting this also:
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‘Inisfail’ Dear Mr. Hubbard, It was your ring. I offered him £5. for it but he said he had already been offered £10. for it and so ultimately I bought it for £10. 10. 0. or perhaps £11. Yours very truly sgd. A.E. Clarke |
Mr. Clarke kindly sent to me the two letters from Sir John Evans to which he made reference:
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"Nash Mills, Dear Sir, Yours very faithfully" sgd. JOHN EVANS. W, Clarke Esq. |
The ring weighs just over 1 oz. and I think it is 22 caret gold.
The late Gothic design of the cusping of the shield is undoubtedly indicative of the end of the 15th Century.
The other letter is written two days later.
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"Nash Mills, Dear Sir, If you care for a fuller opinion upon it please send it for my inspection at your convenience. Yours very faithfully |
In Mr Clarke's letter to me of October 6th 1915, he refers to another letter from Sir John Evans; but unfortunately this letter appears to have been given by Mr. Clarke to Mr. Welldon when he sold the ring to him, and it is, I presume, no longer in existence.
My friend Mr George H. Viner took much interest in the ring and gave me much assistance when I went to Herald's College with the object of
adopting, if possible, the Coat of Arms on the ring. In a letter of October 4th 1915, he says it transpires from Papworth that "the Arms on the ring are those of Hobart as well as Hubbard."
Thus Hobart (Baronetcy 1611 Barony 1728) Earl of Buckingham 1746 had "Sa an eight-pointed estoile or between two flauches erm" as did the Hobarts of Suffolk and of Dromon Co. Waterford.
The estoile of the Hibbards was six pointed, but otherwise the coat was the same.
Although the Arms depicted upon the ring differ from my own when the tinctures and divisions of the shield are taken into consideration,
The general effect of the two shields, when uncoloured is approximately the same.
The small difference between the Arms of Norfolk, the Hubbards of Co. Durham and my own may be seen from the following
comparison:
Sable, an estoile of eight points between two flaunches ermine.
Sable, in chief a crescent argent and in base an estoile of eight points or between two flaunches ermine.
Per saltire azure and ermine over all an estoille of eight points charged with a crescent Gules.
If the crescent for the difference is added to the Arms of the Hobarts of Norfolk then, apart from the colour, the Arms are almost identical with the Hubbards of Co. Durham.
The Chief difference between mine and those of the Hubbards of Co. Durham, apart from colour, is in the position of the
crescent.
The wax impression in the cover is of the old late 15th Century Hubbard ring, and the Arms of the Hobarts of Norfolk, and the Arms of the Hubbards of Co. Durham and
my own are given for the purpose of comparison.
BOOK PLATE
In another volume I have written a full account of the history of the Gibbons Carving and Panelling which was so wrongly discarded from the Chapel of Winchester College, but as it was this carving which has played such an important part in my life and fortune, I am glad that it should be introduced into my book plate.
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Compare with the Durham Crest, from The 1,000 years of Hubbard History.
In 866 a huge army of Danes invaded East Anglia from the Low Countries. They arrived under the leadership of Ivar the Boneless (or Hingwar) and his brothers, Halfdene (or Half Dane) and Hubba (or Ubbi, or Habba, or Ubbe).
The shires of Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln and Stamford in the East Midlands would come to be known as 'the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw'
The Raven was
Ubbe's banner (gumfanun).
He was the brother of Iware (Ívarr);
he was buried by the Danes in a very big mound in Devonshire, called Ubbelawe.
(Lukman, pp. 141-142)
Lukman, N. "The Raven Banner and the Changing Ravens: A Viking Miracle from Carolingian Court Poetry to Saga and Arthurian Romance."
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.htm
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/heads/footnotes/ivarr.html
The Great Army which came to East Anglia, according to Scandinavian tradition, was led by his sons, seeking revenge for the death of Ragnar Lodbrok. Their names - Halfdan ‘Long Arms,’ Ivar ‘the Boneless’, and “the elusive” Ubbi - occur in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle account, which Arbman justifiably sees as “by far the best contemporary description in any land of a Viking invasion.” From it one can see the great advantage of the Vikings, and their high mobility, (which was reduced by Alfred’s largely organisational steps to obstruct them by building camps and blocking rivers, or to compel them to use up their mobility uselessly by interposing his army between them and their objectives).
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/4746/essay4.html
RAGNER LODBROK SIGURDSSON was the son of Siguard Randversson and Alfhild Gandolfsdottir. He was born about 750 and died in 794.
Ragner married ASLANG SIGURDSDOTTIR OF DENMARK who was born about 755 and was the daughter of Sigurd "Fofnersbane".
Children:
— Ivar "the Boneless"
— Halfdan "white shirt"
— Sigurd "snake-in-eye"
— Bjorn "ironside"
— Ragnhildir
— Alof/Olaf.
— Ubbe/Ubbi.
The greatest period of colonization occurred in the latter half of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth. They began again for a time in the early part of the eleventh century. During this period, large parts of northern France, England, and Ireland, were occupied and ruled by the Vikings. Invasions were usually led by men of high rank whose leaders held equal power (i.e. no one supreme commander). Invasions of this kind penetrated Hamburg and Paris, and under the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, eventually reached England. King Horik wanted any Danish Viking raids to be under his direction. In 845 he sent several hundred vessels up the Elbe to take Hamburg, and at the same time sent Ragnar Lodbrok with a smaller fleet up the Seine to capture Paris. In 865 Viking attacks were launched in a more northerly direction and based on East Anglia. This was the starting point of an attack by a united army led by the three sons of Ragnar Lodbrok: Ivar the Boneless (a strategist), Ubbi, and Halfdan. This army captured York on November 1, 866. Around 860 AD, under the leadership of Bjorn and Hastings, a fleet of sixty-two vessels set out for Brittany. This time, however, they were only able to sack Algeciras just inside the Straits of Gibralter. From here they crossed to Nekor in Morocco, and eight days later sailed north past the Balearic Islands to the southern shores of France, where they set up camp on the island of La Camargue in the Rhone delta. Around 851 AD, the chieftain Olaf the White from Norway, reconquered Dublin, restored Norwegian supremacy, and finally chased the Danes out of Ireland. For the next twenty years Olaf ruled in Dublin, and his brother Ivar the Boneless, ruled in Limerick. In 870 Olaf the White was recalled to Norway, and the government of Dublin was taken over by his brother Ivar. The rest of the century the Norwegians spent in fighting; partly among themselves, and partly against the Danes under King Halfdan Hvidsaark in northern England.
http://www.ancuairt.org/genealogy/aeddmawr.htm
In 954 the English "DaneLaw" , (Viking-Kingdom), was annexed to England uniting the whole country.
UBBE “THE FEARSOME”, who was Godfred’s uncle, attacked Cornwall with the “Western Army” in 875, defeated the Cornish in battle, and slew their king, Dungart (Doniert), then, afterwards, campaigned in Wales, where they wintered at Milford Haven 876-876. He made raids all over Wales in 876, slew three local Welsh kings, namely, Iudon of Dyfed, Kanhaethoe of Powys, and Hywel of Gwent, and wintered again at Milford Haven 876-877. In 877, Ubbe, with the support of the Vikings of Dublin, the Isle of Man, and the Hebrides, succeeded in defeating the Welsh high-king, Rhodri “Mawr”, in battle, and expelled him from Wales. The “Western Army wintered once more at Milford Haven 877-878. In the spring of 878, Ubbe sailed from Pembrokeshire, Wales, to Devonshire, England, where the “Western Army” was utterly defeated and scattered, and Ubbe was slain in battle fighting local resistance under the shire’s ealdorman.
