THE VILLAGE : IN AND ABOUT IT 149 



a caretaker of the throne. But more than one 

 of the royal family still kept residences at Kew, 

 which, along with her interest in the Gardens, 

 made Queen Victoria no stranger here. 



William IV. did not live at Kew after his 

 boyhood, though he showed his favour for the 

 place by enlarging the church. Between his 

 naval service and his accession, he had homes not 

 far off, first at Richmond, then at Bushey Park, 

 in the house turned into a National Physical 

 Laboratory by almost the last public act of 

 Queen Victoria. During the scare of the French 

 invasion, we find the Sailor Prince enrolling him- 

 self as a private in the Teddington Volunteers, 

 perhaps a mere honorary enlistment, as elsewhere 

 he is spoken of as commanding a Volunteer force 

 styled the Spelthorne Legion, Spelthorne being 

 the south-western Hundred of Middlesex. Loyal 

 Kew did not fail to have its own company, with 

 the chief gardener as lieutenant, and John Haver- 

 field as Chairman of the Committee appointed at 

 a general meeting of the inhabitants, August 3, 

 1803. The strength of the company was 

 sixty men, with two drummers, two fifers, a 

 fugleman and an armourer ; and there appears 

 to have been no lack of recruits, one of the rules 



