Leather applied with a brass band engraved ‘Chowkidar / Mr Ted Busse. City of Westminster’ in period script, complete with padlock, and associated Victorian brass chain and leather leash.
Edward Busse, a poulterer by trade, is listed as an ‘Assistant’ in a list of Westminster local government officials published in 1726. In 1705 he was admitted to the Freedom of the City of London on petition. His faithful canine companion was evidently a beast of considerable size, and to judge by its name ‘Chowkidar’, the Hindi name for a watchman who inhabits
a ‘chowki’ (or guard house), one of some ferocity.
Sources:
Chamberlayne, E. (1726), ‘Magnae Britanniae Notitia: Or, The Present State of Great Britain; with divers Remarks on the Ancient State thereof’, London
London Metropolitan Archive; Reference Number: COL/CHD/FR/02/0206-0211