Strafford Arms - Mutton Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, UK - Pictorial Pub Signs on Waymarking.com

There is an Earl Strafford Lodge of the Freemasons in Cheshunt which is not really very close at hand and also a Strafford road in nearby Barnet. However, this does not really explain the naming of this pub.

Thomas Wentworth, and his son William both carried the title Earl of Strafford. Thomas was a Parliamentarian during the Civil War, but his connections were almost exclusively Irish and of Yorkshire, and in any case, this does not appear to be his coat of arms.

Could this be George Byng? In 1852 Byng entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for Tavistock, a seat he held until 1857 when he became MP for Middlesex. He held the title Earl of Strafford.

There is another Strafford Arms in Wakefield which has a different coat of arms on it's sign (also not that of Thomas Strafford so far as I can tell).

In my view, Henry Byng, 4th Earl of Strafford (1831–1899) who does have a link with this area is our man. The parish Church of St Mary the Virgin and All Saints is built on land given by Henry Byng. He was the 4th Earl of Strafford and held a number of commissions in the army. However, it was not on the battlefield that he met his end. He was in fact decapitated by a Great Northern Express train at Potters Bar.

He had been travelling by taxi and ordered the driver to stop. He was seen to climb onto the railway track. His body was found soon after. The inquest returned a verdict of Death by Misadventure, no evidence of suicide being found.

Name of Artist: Not known. Date of current sign: Not known. Date of first pub on site: Not known.

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