British & International Fellowship Of Toastmasters

&

ENGLISH TOASTMASTERS ASSOCIATION

  

TOAsTMASTERS. A BRIEF HISTORY.

 

RAP, RAP, RAP. Three times in measured succession, at precisely eleven pm, The Master Of Ceremonies’ staff came into sharp, resounding contact with the hardwood floor.

“Your royal highnesses, my lords, ladies and gentlemen. The evening’s entertainment is now over. It is time for us all to retire to our beds to prepare for a bright new morrow”.

Thus would Richard ‘Beau’ Nash announce the end of each evening. Resplendent in braided and laced coat, embroidered waistcoat and ruffled shirt, black wig, as opposed the fashionable white at the time, all topped off with a bejewelled  beaver-trimmed hat worn at a raffish angle, he was the man in charge!
On one occasion the Princess Royal, who loved dancing immensely, objected to such an abrupt curtailment to her enjoyment and requested the evening continue. Nash refused.

“But Mister Nash, I am a princess of the realm”, she insisted, stamping her royal foot.

“And I, madam, am the king of Bath”. Replied Nash.

            

The date was anytime between 1704 and 1739 and it was to be another one hundred and sixty years before those colourful clothes became the Toastmasters’ red jacket and his long staff morphed into the modern gavel and block that we know so well.
To understand how it all came about we must first go back to the history of the city of Bath itself and the rejuvenating baths after which it was named.

Two thousand years ago the Romans came across the channel, all togged up in tin and flannel whilst on one of their many overseas expeditions to foreign countries where they would poke their unwelcome noses into other peoples’ business.

Realizing the baths’ potential they enclosed the natural warm springs with stone walls to

 keep out the local rabble, put up lots of statues to various gods and laid several miles of drainage. (So, what else did they do for us?)

                      

Moving on just a bit we come to the seventeenth century when the medicinal properties of the baths were attracting the wealthy from all over the country. Chaperoned young women would come looking for husbands and young men ‘on the pull’ would come, just looking.

Over the next century or so a kind of ritual gradually evolved, designed to make the most of the health-giving properties of the baths.

The wealthy, the nobility, including royalty, would take rooms in the city of Bath. At around mid morning they would go to the baths where they would immerse themselves in the hot, muscle-relaxing, rejuvenating waters, drink three glasses of delicious health-giving spa waters and then, wrapped in large blankets, would climb into a bath chair to be wheeled back to their apartments for the afternoon ‘sweat’.

The original Bath Chairs can still be seen in the local museum. They are a sort of large, adult sized pram.

The publicity attached to the spa water would lead one to believe that it is sparkling and delicious. It fact, to the modern palate, it tastes like an accidentally swallowed mouthful of soapy bath water. Yuk! No pun intended.

In the evening the wealthy and privileged would dress up in the latest fashion of the day and take themselves off to the local ballrooms to dance, flirt, drink and generally indulge themselves. A sort of eighteenth century rave-up that could go on for most of the night.

 But that was about to change.

In the year 1674 in Swansea, Wales, Richard Nash was born, whose life was destined to have an almost revolutionary effect on the whole of English society and that of Bath in particular; although from an early age he appeared to be destined for a lifetime of  mediocrity and failure.

His schooling was nothing out of the ordinary; dropping out of Oxford, the army and the law, his chosen profession, he lived for socializing. His time spent in the Guards Division in London was a great help in establishing a network of connections in society but he found his military duties interfering with his social life. So he resigned and returned to his profession, the law, at the Inner Temple in London. 

But the driving force in his life was gambling. So much so that it took precedence over his legal studies to the point of  obsession.

 A trip to Bath turned out to be a turning point in not only his life but that of the city too. It was as if the town and the man were destined to be together. A marriage made in heaven, or the other place?

The popularity of the spa waters was increasing and this proved to be perfectly in tune with Nash’s lifestyle. Bathers were to be found soaking in the mineral waters during the morning, taking an hour or so for the sweat, leaving the idle rich with most of the afternoon to relax, walk in the parks or visit taverns and coffee houses. This gave Nash the perfect opportunity to promote his love of gambling to Bath society.

 (By the way, I can thoroughly recommend Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play “The Rivals”. Set in Bath it is still performed occasionally.)  

He moved into the town, rapidly becoming the aide-de-camp to Captain Webster, the Master Of Ceremonies.

 In Georgian times the duties of Master Of Ceremonies included arranging the “social life of society”, dances, balls, social events and gatherings and ensure their smooth running. When Captain Webster was tragically killed in a duel fought over a disputed card game Nash was his natural successor. 

He immediately assumed the self-proclaimed title “King Of Bath”. He dressed appropriately with an exaggerated elegance that soon earned him his accustomed nick-name “Beau”. Only Beau had the bravado to carry off such foppish behaviour. He was the Georgian equivalent of Barnham & Bailey or the Billy Butlins of his day.

He was, in fact, the first of the real toastmasters although the term was not in common use at that time.

During his time as the uncrowned King Of Bath he did much to refine, regulate and organize Bath’s social life and its facilities. By full use of his outrageous and dominant personality he bullied the city into a new mode of manners, setting strict time-tables for meals, relaxation, entertainment and sleep.

The prosperity brought to him through his skill and luck at gambling enabled him to live the high life in a fine mansion but in 1739 parliament passed an act making several card games illegal.

This, for Nash, was a personal tragedy.

At the age of 70 his fortune and reputation declined drastically. It is often written that he lived and died in poverty but this alludes to his lost fortune. In fact he retired to a more modest but very nice, comfortable house in Bath. (It still stands today). Living on a small but adequate pension provided by a grateful city.

Nash never married but his mistress, Juliana Popjoy, stayed with him until his death at the grand age of 87. The city rallied at his death and he was given a lavish funeral with a memorial at the abbey. He left behind him a lasting legacy in the grandeur that was Bath and a custom of behaviour that still persists today in grand, high-ranking social events.

            

And so we move on to “the toast” But we cannot yet escape Bath from where it probably originates.

Toasting, we now know, dates from the 17th century and is believed to have begun during the reign of King Charles 11 in 1660. Drinking to the health of a person, particularly the king had become progressively more popular and pieces of spiced toast were often dropped into the wine to improve its flavour. And so the word “toast” became the known word for drinking the health. As the majority of toasts were to the ladies they became known as “the toast”

In one infamous incident a local, young beauty of dubious morality was encouraged to bathe in a bath of wine before a group of moneyed young bloods. Upon drinking from the “bathwater” one nobleman proclaimed that he

 “Did not care much for the liquor but was greatly enamoured of the toast”

It is claimed that incident led to the present custom and has since been called “a toast”.

 For the Master Of Ceremonies to become The Toastmaster was an obvious progression and his style of dress gradually evolved from Nash’s flamboyant extravagance to the black

 tail-coat around the start of the twentieth century.

By this time the long staff had become the wooden gavel and block but it was to take another incident over ninety years later, in the presence of another royal personage, The Prince Of Wales, later to become Edward The Seventh, for the black coat to become red.

William Knightsmith, a well known Toastmaster, started his career around the beginning of the twentieth century dressed, as they all were, in black tail-coat which made him almost indistinguishable from the waiters at the time.

Knightsmith was becoming increasingly irritated at being addressed as ‘Waiter’ at formal dinners and banquets and it was his wife who suggested that perhaps he should wear a more individual colour.

He had a tail-coat made, the same in every detail as before except this one was in bright red! He first wore this at a Freemasons function and other Toastmasters who saw it thought it a great joke. The Prince Of Wales, on seeing it remarked

 “Pink should not be seen at dinner”

 But he later relented and gave his approval.

Red jackets, as worn by toastmasters and huntsmen, are referred to as “pinks” in deference to the tailor who first made them; a Mr Pink.

(Interestingly, it is an anomaly of English law that as hunting is not allowed in the City Of London, neither is the wearing of red, or Hunting Pink jackets. For livery functions within the city limits Toastmasters are required to wear black.)    

 Knightsmith, like Beau Nash, served three generations of monarchs, princes, nobility and aristocracy from every country of Europe and also America.

          

And so to the modern Toastmaster.

With respectful acknowledgement to his antecedents he continues the traditional duties

 but with a modern attitude.

Still immaculately dressed in white tie, red tailcoat, black trousers and shoes the Toastmaster adds tradition, dignity and protocol to any function. At the same time his very presence  adds a touch of colour, style and theatre to a special occasion.             

Occasionally a bridal family will request that the Toastmaster wears black as they don’t like things to be “so formal”and he has just blended into the background. He becomes just another guest filling in as a favour to the bridegroom. It never really works. People wonder who he is.

             

The belief that the red coat is symptomatic of a “stuffed shirt” is a myth. If a Toastmaster is a stuffy old goat he will be so even if dressed like Coco The Clown.  The days of the old fashioned stodgy-podgy-Toastmaster who just stands there like some stuffed cabbage, making half-listened to announcements are not quite a thing of the past but they ought to be.

The modern Toastmaster is Master Of Ceremonies, events manager, organizer, co-ordinater and diplomat, soother of nerves and stroker of egos, time-keeper and looker-after-of-lost-earrings! 

The Red Coat is a flash of colour, a touch of theatre, glamour, and jazz. What can be more art deco than a bright red morning coat coupled with an outgoing personality?

Who needs a Toastmaster for their wedding?

Can’t any friend or relative of the groom do just as well? Probably not.

The prime directive for any function is that nothing is allowed to go wrong but if it does it is taken care of quickly and quietly. Every effort must be made to ensure that the whole day runs perfectly so that the happy couple, their family and friends can relax and enjoy the day totally free of concern.

This is where the toastmaster’s services prove invaluable.

             Who needs a Toastmaster? It could be you        

0208 886 0494

jeff@toastmasterbest.co.uk