Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Harry Payne, a long-served valet and butler to royalty and the aristocracy, so, too, to Wallis Simpson, at the height of the abdication crisis - ‘it was a busy time

1914-15 Star (GS-14590 Pte. H. Payne, 4-D. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (GS-14590 Pte. H. Payne, 4-D. Gds.); Royal Victorian Medal, G.VI.R., 2nd issue, silver, with its original Royal Mint case of issue and forwarding box; The Netherlands, Silver Medal of the Order of Orange Nassau, together with a set of related miniature dress medals and 4th Dragoon Guards cap badge, mounted court-style with new ribands but original wearing pin, generally good very fine (11) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Long Service Medals from the Collection formed by John Tamplin.

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Harry Payne, who was born in Sussex in about 1900, first went ‘into service’ as a Steward’s room boy at the Earl of Kimberley’s residence in Norfolk in 1912, from which post he transferred to Baron Strathcona’s household as a Third Footman, the latter appointment being interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities, when Payne enlisted in the 4th Dragoon Guards

Gaining his first job as a Butler on his return from active service, he went on to enjoy a long career in the employment of many famous households, in addition to several lengthy appointments in foreign embassies. In 1925-26 he was Butler at the London residence of the Hon. Henry Coventry, a son of the Earl of Coventry, and shortly afterwards to Joan Rosita Forbres, a well-known traveller, lecturer and author. Next employed by Rex Benson, D.S.O., M.V.O., M.C. (later Sir Rex Lindsay Benson), who had taken a hunting box in Rutland, Payne returned South to an appointment in Park Lane, and thence to the country residences of Hugh, Viscount Ebrington, at Melton Mowbray and Exmoor. Having then served as Butler to the Belgian Ambassador, Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, 1933-35, he joined the staff at Brantridge Park, Sussex, the residence of the Earl of Athlone and H.R.H. Princess Alice - an appointment that witnessed a visit from H.M. Queen Mary in May 1936

Old Queen Mary used to stay with us in the country. She gave me a clock, a nice clock; oh yes. In the morning the footman used to take up to her the temperature. And her papers were sewn or pegged together, so that the pages wouldn’t fall out. Of course she was very methodical, as you must know. I thought she was a charming woman; a gracious lady, I should put it. Well, they were brought up well, weren’t they? When Queen Mary came to a place, the page would have talked to me to find out where I’d been, so that when the Queen talked to me she’d know a bit of background, and put me at my ease, you see’ (Payne in an interview with The Observer magazine in July 1967

Then in early November 1936, he received a letter from a professional agency to say he had been recommended to Mrs. Ernest Simpson of 16, Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park, a letter in which he was informed he would have to ‘live out’ if the appointment was confirmed. Moreover, the same letter advised him that his potential employer did not want ‘anyone who “talks”.’ Payne next heard from Mrs. Simpson’s secretary on 11 November: ‘Mrs. Simpson has taken up your reference with Lord Athlone who spoke very highly of you. She would like you to start on Tuesday at £125 a year, and to come early in the afternoon.’ The very epitome of discretion, Payne does not appear to have spoken about his subsequent period of employment other than to say ‘it was a busy time’ (The Observer magazine, July 1967, refers). Yet his time at Cumberland Terrace encompassed momentous events in the lives of Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson, and indeed the King’s abdication. Certainly as Mrs. Simpson’s Butler, Payne would have been keenly aware of the press gathered outside her home, all hoping to capture photographs of royal delivery vans dropping off assorted furniture and chattels - and flowers. Inevitably, however, as the crisis deepened, the mood of the gathered throng turned ugly - Payne may have been ‘living out’ the night someone threw a brick through a window of the house next door, causing Mrs. Simpson to awake with a scream, but he was surely on duty the day a booing, stone-throwing mob caused the Police to intervene. Nearing a nervous breakdown, Mrs. Simpson started to divide her time between Claridges and the King’s Surrey bolt-hole, Fort Belvedere, but by early December she had little choice but to flee the country, taking passage to France. A few days later, the King abdicated, and the faithful Payne was taken on by Lord Furness - whose wife had been the King’s mistress back in the early 1930s

By the renewal of hostilities, however, Payne appears to have broken free of the newly titled Duke of Windsor’s circle, and was serving as Butler to the French ambassador, Charles Corbin. And shortly after the latter’s return to France in March 1940, he took up an appointment with the Lord Mayor at Mansion House. Here he appears to have remained until 1946, when he was briefly employed by His Highness the Nawab of Bahawalpur before joining the staff of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in October 1947. He remained similarly employed until June 1952, in which period he was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal in silver and the Silver Medal of the Order of Orange-Nassau, both distinctions in respect of an embassy banquet attended by King George VI during the Queen of the Netherlands’ State Visit to London in November 1950

Following another appointment in early 1954, for Mrs. Gerald Legge (afterwards the Countess of Dartmouth), Payne joined the staff of the Spanish Ambassador, the Duke of Primo de Rivera, in Belgrave Square, where he served until 1958. Thereafter, he appears to have undertaken a succession of temporary appointments at his leisure, among them a post with one of the Duke of Windsor’s old friends, the Tory M.P. “Chips” Channon. In 1967, while living in semi-retirement in South Norwood, he was interviewed by The Observer magazine, whose journalist described him as ‘the world’s idea of a Butler. He has seen it all, is impressed by few people, and knows what is right.’ For his own part, Payne reflected:

‘The bloody world’s upside down, you know. I’ve been with a lot of millionaires, and I’ve never seen a happy one yet. I used to look after film stars. They don’t live on this earth. Some of these people get on films and they get a few quid, and it goes to their heads doesn’t it’.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including R.V.M. certificate, dated 21 November 1950, and Silver Medal of the Order of Orange-Nassau certificate, dated 16 November 1950, the last with related (restricted) Permission to Wear document from Buckingham Palace, this dated 4 January 1951; an interesting series of letters of reference dating from the 1920s to the 1950s, many from above cited employers (approximately 20); two letters from Queen Mary’s footman, dated in April-May 1936, with special instructions for Payne prior to H.M’s visit to the Athlone’s at Brantridge Park (’These few lines are to say that I will bring H.M’s own wine and cigarettes with me. The Queen drinks water for lunch and wine for dinner, which is put on ice two hours before use ... ’); a letter from The Social Bureau and Ladies’ Guild, informing Payne that he had been recommended to Mrs. Ernest Simpson, dated 9 November 1936 (’Please take your references. They want you to live out but do not seem to want to pay you extra for this. I do not think they will give you more than £130. Strongly advise you to try to arrange if you can as I think it will be a good opening ... ’); a letter from Wallis Simpson’s secretary, dated 11 November 1936, at 16 Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park, N.W. 1, in which he is offered the post, as quoted above; a large printed ‘Ball Supper Room’ table plan for State Banquets held on 10 and 13 May 1937, with individual servant names and roles per table; and a copy of the above mentioned Observer magazine from July 1967.