Just a couple of weeks ago Bristol held a proclamation in front of City Hall on College Green to announce the new King, Charles III, following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday (September 8). The city's proclamation was a momentous occasion and featured dignitaries that included the Lord-Lieutenant Peaches Golding, as well as the Sheriff of Bristol.
The main speakers during the event stood atop a proclamation car, or carriage, that made for a spectacle in itself. Sir George Stanley James White, 4th baronet believes that he and his family have played a huge part in the history of the proclamation car and that the vehicle - or 'wagonette' as he dubs it - which was hidden beneath the historic Bristol Proclamation side boards, crown and cushion, was passed to the city of Bristol by his grandfather, Sir G. Stanley White Bt (1882 - 1964) and therefore came from his great grandfather's stable at Cotham House.
Sir George told Bristol Live: "It was built by the famous Bristol coachbuilders Fullers, and unlike the historic upper Proclamation part, said to date from 1801, probably dates from the late 19th Century. My great grandfather, Sir George White 1st baronet (1854-1916) was a pioneer of tramways in Bristol and elsewhere, founder (with my grandfather) of the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton and a philanthropist on a considerable scale.
