David Leach OBE - Tankard with Applied Duke of Cornwall Infantry Badge (1911 – 2005)

This rare and most interesting and distinctive earthenware barrel shaped tankard with applied Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry badge has a strong link to its maker the acclaimed British potter David Leach Obe (1911 – 2005).  David Leach was the son of the famous and ground breaking Bernard Leach – known as “the Father of British studio pottery”.  The badge is the Regiment’s badge in the form of a 'stringed bugle horn' above which is a scroll inscribed 'Cornwall'.  Above the scroll is a ducal coronet. David Leach was a Christian pacifist but enlisted in 1941 to fight.  However, he refused to wear uniform.  He was court martialled twice but ultimately accepted the futility of protest and joined the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.  This had originally been named after the then Duke of Cornwall (later to become King Edward VII) in the 1881 Army reforms by merging the 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment and the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment and continuing in British Army service until 1959 when it merged with the Somerset Light Infantry to become the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry. After further amalgamations, it is now part of the Rifles which was formed to serve as the county regiment of 13 British counties including Cornwall. The tankard is an excellent example of early David Leach earthenware (c. 1920s/1930s) and is covered in a terracotta glaze and modelled in low relief.  It is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks or restoration.  It has the David Leech pottery mark at the base of the handle. A stylish tankard made by a famous potter with interesting historical Cornish connections.