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William Anthony, Last Of The Charlies

April 24, 2021
by the gentle author

William Anthony 1789-1863

Behold the face of history! Photographed in 1863, the year of his death, but born in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, seventy-four-year-old William Anthony trudged the streets of Spitalfields and Norton Folgate through the darkest nights and thickest fogs for half a century, with his nose pointed into the wind and his jaw set in determination, successfully guided by a terrier-like instinct to seek out miscreants and prevent the outbreak of any unholy excesses of violence, such as erupted on the other side of the channel at the time of his nascence.

No wonder the Watch Book of Norton Folgate recorded an unbroken sequence of “All’s Well” for his entire tenure. No robbery was reported in fifty years. There was no nonsense with William Anthony. We need him at night on Brick Lane today.

The origin of the term ‘Charley’ for Watchman may originate in the time of Charles I when the monarch improved the watch system, although Jonathon Green, Spitalfields Life Contributing Lexicographer of Slang, who informed me of this possible derivation, can find no subsequent use in print for another one hundred and fifty years, when the term achieved currency in the early nineteenth century.

‘Charley’ as a derogatory term for a foolish person has survived into modern times, yet – as these photographs attest – William Anthony was unapologetic, quite content to be a ‘Charley.’ Behind him stand a long line of ‘Charlies’ stretching back through time for as long as London has existed and I think we may discern a certain dogged pride in William Anthony’s bearing, clutching his dark lantern in one hand and knobbly staff of office in the other, swaddled up in a great coat against the cold, wrapped in an apron against the filth, shod in sturdy boots against the damp and sheltered under his stout hat from the downpour.

Now I know his appearance, I will look out for William Anthony, lest our paths cross in the wintry dusk in Blossom St or Elder St – others might disregard him as another homeless old man walking all night but I shall hail him and pay my respects to the last of the ‘Charlies.’ He is the one of whom you could truly say you would be glad to meet him in a dark alley at night.

In Norton Folgate, the Watchman recorded an unbroken sequence of “All’s Well”

Tom & Jerry “getting the best of a Charley” at Temple Bar engraved by George Cruickshank, 1832

“Past one o’clock and a fine morning!” from Thomas Rowlandson’s ‘Lower Orders’

The Watchman, 1819 from ‘Pictures of Real Life for Children’

“Past Twelve O’Clock and A Cloudy Morning! & Patrol! Patrol!” from ‘Sam Syntax’s Cries of London’

“Past twelve o’clock and a misty morning! Past twelve o’clock and mind I give you warning!” published by Charles Hindley, Leadenhall Press, 1884

Watchman by John Thomas Smith, copied from a print prefixed to ‘Villanies discovered by Lanthorne and Candlelight’ by Thomas Dekker 1616. “The marching Watch contained in number two thousand men, part of them being old souldiers, of skill to be captaines, lieutenants, serjeants, corporals &c. The poore men taking wages, besides that every one had a strawne hat, with no badge painted, and his breakfast in the morning.”

Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute

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7 Responses leave one →
  1. Jim M. permalink
    April 24, 2021

    What a splendid character, and thank you for introducing him to me.

    With his broad-brimmed hat, great coat, lantern and knobbly staff I fancy that William Anthony would not look out of place patrolling the streets of Ankh-Morpork.

  2. Kelly Holman permalink
    April 24, 2021

    Another wonderful story. Comparing his lantern, his knobbly staff of office and his determination as evidenced by his set jaw, one has to feel the latter was his greatest asset in keeping miscreants under control.

  3. April 24, 2021

    A most interesting story. Thanks a lot!

    Love & Peace
    ACHIM

  4. April 24, 2021

    Greetings from Boston,

    GA, what a colorful portrait of William Anthony, the last of the Charlies, under whose watch no robberies or altercations took place during his fifty year tenure.

    Leave it to satirists George Cruickshank and Thomas Rowlandson to see the irony in the watchmen’s assurance that “All’s well.”

  5. David Gooding permalink
    April 24, 2021

    Anthony’s coat must have weighed a ton. A life spent trudging the streets.

  6. paul loften permalink
    April 24, 2021

    The photo of the last Charlie is a link in the chain of human history. Born in the year of the French Revolution . Here we have a face from that year, that we can see. Not a king nor a lord but a Charlie. Thank you GA for being the watchman of human life and showing us his story.

  7. Pamela Traves permalink
    April 25, 2021

    Thank You for these Amazing Vintage Pictures. Thank You So Much!!????????

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