The Silver Salver

Love flourishes everywhere. Many soldiers encounter love while in service: be it leaving a girl back home or meeting someone while in active duty. 

These salvers are one example of soldiers supporting each other in matters of the heart. Like the Arch of Sabres, an engraved silver salver was a common wedding gift for officers of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. It showed the marrying couple the support of their military friends and family. The museum has two such salvers in its collection, pictured below. 

This silver salver (2007-162) was given to Captain Eric S. Ayre and Janet Miller (later Murray) at their wedding. Ayre’s fellow soldiers had their signatures engraved surrounding the Regimental caribou as a show of support for the union.

This second silver salver (2016-040E) was a gift to Lt. Col. A.L. Hadow and Mrs. Hadow for their marriage (April 1916) from the Officers of the Regiment. The officers’ signatures are engraved. Different from the previous platter, the dates of death or wounds are inscribed by the signatures. These were inscribed by Lt. Col. Hadow. 

Visit the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum to see both silver salvers on display.