White Horse Inn

There’s a white horse in the arms of a number of different guilds – Carmen, Coachmen, Farriers, Wheelwrights, Saddlers and, most significantly, Innholders. Many White Horse pub signs reflect one or other of these references. For yet others it could be the heraldic crest of the Kings of Wessex or of the House of Hanover. The White Horse was also the standard of the Saxons and is also the traditional emblem of Kent and there’s a few famous chalk horses. In the case of the Devonport ‘White Horse’ we can only hazard a guess.

It stood just a few yards south of Morice Square, at No.25 Morice Street, and was closed, not during the war, but just before it, in February 1939, as part of the redevelopment of the area. Curiously enough it was only seven or eight years after Eric Maschwitz/Bernard Grun musical – the White Horse Inn (albeit referencing a European inn) – had first taken to the London stage.

Licensees

1852 - Catherine Lucks
1864 - Samuel Bewes
1867 - Sarah Horner
1873 - Samuel Bewes
1880 - G Barnes
1896 - Mrs E Barnes
1897 - TS Smale
1898 - Jacob Nanscawen
1913 - Stanley Clarke
1924 - William Flynn
1925 - Charlotte Field
1931 - William Powell
1937 - Albert Fleming