CHARLES I

The shoes reputedly worn by Charles I on the day of his execution, Tuesday 30 January 1649, (2)

Footnotes

Provenance: Leathe family of Dale Head Hall, near Keswick, Cumberland; presented by Thomas Stanger-Leathes (1791-1876) to Crosthwaite's Museum, Keswick, some time prior to 1826; sold at Rydal Hall, Grasmere when the museum closed in 1870, to the Lowther Family of Lowther Castle; The Earls of Lonsdale, their Lowther Castle sale, April-June 1947 (the shoes were not apparently in the sale catalogue as they were in a locked drawer of a cabinet containing coins and medals); Copper & Adams of James Street, exhibited at London Antique Dealers Fair, 1947; Sotheby's, c.1949; purchased by Bryan Hall (1922-2004), Norfolk antiquarian and collector; his sale, Bonhams, The Contents of the Old Rectory, Banningham, Norfolk, 23 March 2004, lot 1495; two UK private collections.

Included in the lot are three letters from Hedley Hope Nicholson, written in 1949 in his capacity as a member of The Committee of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, and mentioning the fact that at one point Queen Mary had been intending to purchase the shoes whilst they were with Copper & Adams. "I think it very likely that the King wore such a pair of shoes on the scaffold. He would have changed into them after the walk from St. James' Palace – he took special care of his appearance that day, which he referred to as 'my second marriage day'".

Also included is a typed note from Bryan Hall: "For various reasons my Father subscribed to Sotheby's Catalogues dealing with small antiquarian objects. It was in one of these catalogues I saw the lot comprising the black shoes worn by Charles I when walking to the scaffold".

Coincidentally, the Museum of London was due to hold an exhibition this year entitled Executions, focussing on those who died and those who witnessed executions first hand. It was to include a vest and other items said to have been worn by King Charles I when he went to the scaffold, but no shoes.

Literature: Catalogue of Crosthwaite's Museum, Printed by Thomas Bailey, 1826, p.44; Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, 'George Bott recalls Keswick museum Giant's shoes among the odd and bizarre', 3 October 1998 ("Equally rare was a pair of shoes worn by the great Mogul when his eyes were put out by a rebel, a shoe and a clog worn by Queen Elizabeth, and the shoes of King Charles I when he was beheaded... The royal footwear was presented to Peter Crosthwaite by Thomas Stanger Leathes, Dale Head Hall, Thirlmere").