17th c. panel returned to church 30 years after it was stolen

A 17th century memorial painted wood panel stolen from a church in Hertfordshire in 1996 has been returned 30 years later, thanks to a keen-eyed Australian heraldry enthusiast.

The panel is 2’8″ x 2’2″ and contains a vividly painted coat of arms over a neatly lettered dedication. The inscription reads:

“At the upper ende of this midle ile lyeth intered the
Body of George Cordell Esquire, who served Queene
Elisabeth and was Sergeant of the Ewry to
King Iames & the late King Charles, in all Sixty yeeres:
Who maried Dorothy the only daughter & heyre of
Francis Prior of this parish, with whom he lives 57
Yeares & deceased the 25th of May 1653 he being
Aged 84 yeeres.”

Cordell’s and his wife’s families had deep ties to Flamstead and after serving as courtier to three monarchs (the Sergeant of the Ewry was in charge of all the linens and silverware for the royal table), he was buried at St Leonard’s Church. This marker was mounted on the north aisle wall.

The panel disappeared from St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead in April 1996. Authorities were notified at the time, and the theft was recorded in the database of the Art Loss Register in May. For decades there was no sign of it, and eventually the new staff and parishioners forgot about the purloined panel.

Then, all of a sudden on New Year’s Eve the vicar of St Leonard’s, Reverend Jo Burke, received an email from one Richard d’Apice, member of the Australian Heraldry Society in Sydney. He had perused the online catalogue of an auction at Dreweatts and spotted a panel painted with an elaborate coat of arms and a funerary inscription. This roused his nerdly suspicions, and a little detective work online led him to a description of the panel in the March, 1812, issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine which recorded it in St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead. The article quoted the full dedication, so there was no mistaking it for another piece.

After getting over her initial suspicions that this was a very weirdly specific new email scam, Reverend Burke had the church archivist search the church’s old files. They found a photograph of the panel and the ALR database information. On January 9th, Burke notified Dreweatts that the lot was stolen property. The company immediately withdrew it five days before the scheduled auction.

The seller had no idea it had been stolen and while Dreweatts had done their standard due diligence search in the ALR database, the panel had slipped through the search thresholds. ALR sent the seller a letter confirming the panel had been stolen in 1996 and registered with them since May of that year. The seller made arrangements for the church to pick up the panel, and two weeks later it was back home at long last.

The church is very happy as the panel is a “fascinating piece of local history”. The panel is now back with St Leonard’s and in a safe location until an appropriate display method can be purchased.

Burke added: “Our archivist and member of our Parochial Church Council is a retired curator of the British Museum and continues to have museum contacts. We are taking advice on how to display it securely.”

* This article was originally published here