Page:EB1911 - Volume 13.djvu/75

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HATCHET—HATHERLEY, BARON

door, as in “buttery-hatch,” the half-door leading from the buttery or kitchen, through which the dishes could be passed into the dining-hall. It was used formerly as another name for a ship’s deck, and thus the phrase “under hatches” meant properly below deck; the word is now applied to the doors of grated framework covering the openings (the “hatchways”) which lead from one deck to another into the hold through which the cargo is lowered. In Cornwall the word is used to denote certain dams or mounds used to prevent the tin-washes and the water coming from the stream-works from flowing into the fresh rivers.


HATCHET (adapted from the Fr. hachette, diminutive of hache, axe, hacher, to cut, hack), a small, light form of axe with a short handle (see Tool); for the war-hatchet of the North American Indians and the symbolical ceremonies connected with it see Tomahawk.


HATCHETTITE, sometimes termed Mountain Tallow, Mineral Adipocire, or Adipocerite, a mineral hydrocarbon occurring in the Coal-measures of Belgium and elsewhere, occupying in some cases the interior of hollow concretions of iron-ore, but more generally the cavities of fossil shells or crevices in the rocks. It is of yellow colour, and translucent, but darkens and becomes opaque on exposure. It has no odour, is greasy to the touch, and has a slightly glistening lustre. Its hardness is that of soft wax. The melting point is 46° to 47° C., and the composition is C. 85.55, H. 14.45.


HATCHMENT, properly, in heraldry, an escutcheon or armorial shield granted for some act of distinction or “achievement,” of which word it is a corruption through such forms as atcheament, achement, hachement, &c. “Achievement” is an adaptation of the Fr. achèvement, from achever, à chef venir, Lat. ad caput venire, to come to a head, or conclusion, hence accomplish, achieve. The term “hatchment” is now usually applied to funeral escutcheons or armorial shields enclosed in a black lozenge-shaped frame suspended against the wall of a deceased person’s house. It is usually placed over the entrance at the level of the second floor, and remains for from six to twelve months, when it is removed to the parish church. This custom is falling into disuse, though still not uncommon. It is usual to hang the hatchment of a deceased head of a house at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge over the entrance to his lodge or residence.

If for a bachelor the hatchment bears upon a shield his arms, crest, and other appendages, the whole on a black ground. If for a single woman, her arms are represented upon a lozenge, bordered with knotted ribbons, also on a black ground. If the hatchment be for a married man (as in the illustration), his arms upon a shield impale those of his surviving wife; or if she be an heiress they are placed upon a scutcheon of pretence, and crest and other appendages are added. The dexter half of the ground is black, the sinister white. For a wife whose husband is alive the same arrangement is used, but the sinister ground only is black. For a widower the same is used as for a married man, but the whole ground is black; for a widow the husband’s arms are given with her own, but upon a lozenge, with ribbons, without crest or appendages, and the whole ground is black. When there have been two wives or two husbands the ground is divided into three parts per pale, and the division behind the arms of the survivor is white. Colours and military or naval emblems are sometimes placed behind the arms of military or naval officers. It is thus easy to discern from the hatchment the sex, condition and quality, and possibly the name of the deceased.

In Scottish hatchments it is not unusual to place the arms of the father and mother of the deceased in the two lateral angles of the lozenge, and sometimes the 4, 8 or 16 genealogical escutcheons are ranged along the margin.


HATFIELD, a town in the Mid or St Albans parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 171/2 m. N. of London by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901), 4754. It lies picturesquely on the flank of a wooded hill, and about its foot, past which runs the Great North Road. The church of St Etheldreda, well situated towards the top of the hill, contains an Early English round arch with the dog-tooth moulding, but for the rest is Decorated and Perpendicular, and largely restored. The chapel north of the chancel is known as the Salisbury chapel, and was erected by Robert Cecil, first earl of Salisbury (d. 1612), who was buried here. It is in a mixture of classic and Gothic styles. In a private portion of the churchyard is buried, among others of the family, the third marquess of Salisbury (d. 1903). In the vicinity is Hatfield House, close to the site of a palace of the bishops of Ely, which was erected about the beginning of the 12th century. From this palace comes the proper form of the name of the town, Bishop’s Hatfield. In 1538 the manor was resigned to Henry VIII. by Bishop Thomas Goodrich of Ely, in exchange for certain lands in Cambridge, Essex and Norfolk; and after that monarch the palace was successively the residence of Edward VI. immediately before his accession, of Queen Elizabeth during the reign of her sister Mary, and of James I. The last-named exchanged it in 1607 for Theobalds, near Cheshunt, in the same county, an estate of Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, in whose family Hatfield House has since remained. The west wing of the present mansion, built for Cecil in 1608–1611, was destroyed by fire in November 1835, the dowager marchioness of Salisbury, widow of the 1st marquess, perishing in the flames. Hatfield House was built, and has been restored and maintained, in the richest style of its period, both without and within. The buildings of mellowed red brick now used as stables and offices are, however, of a period far anterior to Cecil’s time, and are probably part of the erection of John Morton, bishop of Ely in 1478–1486. The park measures some 10 m. in circumference. From the eminence on which the mansion stands the ground falls towards the river Lea, which here expands into a small lake. Beyond this is a rare example of a monks’ walled vineyard. In the park is also an ancient oak under which Elizabeth is said to have been seated when the news of her sister’s death was brought to her. Brocket Park is another fine demesne, at the neighbouring village of Lemsford, and the Brocket chapel in Hatfield church contains memorials of the families who have held this seat.


HATHERLEY, WILLIAM PAGE WOOD, 1st Baron (1801–1881), lord chancellor of Great Britain, son of Sir Matthew Wood, a London alderman and lord mayor who became famous for befriending Queen Caroline and braving George IV., was born in London on the 29th of November 1801. He was educated at Winchester, Geneva University, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow after being 24th wrangler in 1824. He entered Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar in 1824, studying conveyancing in Mr John Tyrrell’s chambers. He soon obtained a good practice as an equity draughtsman and before parliamentary committees, and in 1830 married Miss Charlotte Moor. In 1845 he became Q.C., and in 1847 was elected to parliament for the city of Oxford as a Liberal. In 1849 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the county palatine of Lancaster, and in 1851 was made solicitor-general and knighted, vacating that position in 1852. When his party returned to power in 1853, he was raised to the bench as a vice-chancellor. In 1868 he was made a lord justice of appeal, but before the end of the year was selected by Mr Gladstone to be lord chancellor, and was raised to the peerage as Lord Hatherley of Down Hatherley. He retired in 1872 owing to failing eyesight, but sat occasionally as a law lord. His wife’s death in 1878 was a great blow, from which he never recovered, and he died in London on the 10th of July 1881. Dean Hook said that Lord Hatherley—who was a sound and benevolent supporter of the Church of