The Granting of the Right of Freedom of Entry to the City of Winchester
Print from a watercolour by Kate Dicker, 1995
HMS Dryad was a Royal Navy shore establishment located at Southwark Estate in the Winchester City district and was the home of the Royal Navy's Maritime Warfare School. This picture shows Dryad being granted the Freedom of Entry to the City of Winchester in 1995. The Freedom of Entry to a city is an honour bestowed upon the military when they have a long association with a city and permits entry into the city bearing arms.
Dryad had been the Royal Navy Navigation School between 1906 and 1943 and was based at Portsmouth Dockyard but moved to Southwick in 1941 because of enemy bombing. In 1943 it became the Maritime Warfare School when there became a Fleet requirement for a standardised system of warfare direction.
In 2004 the Maritime Warfare School moved to HMS Collingwood and Southwick Estate became home to the joint services Defence School of Policing and Guarding. To mark Dryad moving to Collingwood they again exercised their right to enter the city bearing arms.
There have been four ships to bear the name HMS Dryad before the present establishment. The first was a 36 gun frigate launched in the Thames in 1795, which saw action during the Napoleonic Wars. The name then passed to a sloop, begun in 1860 but never completed, and then to a third ship which was launched in Devonport in 1866. The third HMS Dryad was sold in 1885 when the fourth and last ship to bear the name was launched at Chatham. It was this vessel which eventually became the tender to the Royal Navy's Navigation School when it transferred ashore from the afloat HMS Mercury in 1906.
Kate Dicker
Kate Dicker studied at West Sussex College of Design in 1979-80, Camberwell College of Arts, 1980-83 and Winchester School of art in 1992-94 and 2003-04 and is a member The Society of Wood Engravers and The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Kate’s commissions have included the Winchester Health authority, Winchester City Council, and Hampshire County Council Archive and Museum Services.
This picture is copyright of the artist and has been reproduced here with their permission.
