The Black Horse

The black horse symbol dates back to 1884, when Lloyds Bank took over two private banks in Lombard Street in the City of London. Our Head Office is still in the same area and now the Black Horse is the recognised emblem of Lloyds TSB throughout the world.

Behind the emblem is a real horse Cancara. He is a graded Trakehner stallion, 16 hands high, and he celebrated his 26th birthday on 1 May 2002. The Trakehner breed, established in East Prussia in 1732 was the first national horse breed of West Germany. Cancara stands at stud near Petersfield, Hampshire, in the stables of his owner, TV director Graham Parker.

Cancara regularly represents Lloyds TSB at all sorts of events, from agricultural shows and exhibitions, to press launches and photo shoots with supermodels.

The White Horse at Uffington is one the most famous hill figures in Britain and has recently been dated to at least the Iron Age (around 500 BC) but it could well be much older. The horse spans 110 m in length but can only be fully viewed from the air. The best position to see it from the ground is about a mile and half away to the N and from here one can see that the figure resembles as much a dragon as it does a horse.

The Household Cavalry consists of The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st The Royal Dragoons). They are the oldest and most senior regiments in the British Army and are split between two different units equipped to perform two quite different roles. The Household Cavalry Regiment has an operational role in armoured fighting vehicles which has seen them at the forefront of Britain's military operations including the Falklands (1982), the Gulf (1990) and, more recently, Bosnia and Kosovo. The regiments are Guards Regiments and, with the five Foot Guards Regiments, form the Household Division.

The second unit is the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment equipped with horses. It is their unique privilege to meet the requirement to carry out mounted and some dismounted ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions which include the provision of a Sovereign's Escort most commonly seen at the Queen's Birthday Parade in June each year. Other occasions include Sovereign's Escorts for Her Majesty The Queen during State Visits by visiting Heads of State, and as required by Her Majesty anywhere in the Kingdom. They maintain a world-famous tradition dating back to 1660.

Household Cavalry Museum

Black Beauty was the only book written by Anna Sewell, although its continued popularity among children, particularly girls, has justified that effort. Sewell was, remarkably, paid only twenty pounds for the book and it was published three months before her death, in 1877. However, its immediate success gave her great pleasure and she died in the knowledge that the book had indeed encouraged people to treat animals less cruelly. It is the autobiography of a horse, the Black Beauty of the title, who narrates it. Through various owners who ask different tasks of Black Beauty, he grows and has numerous adventures. He goes from being a riding and carriage horse through being a mistreated town cab horse to eventual happiness in a secure home. Notably, the animal keeps strength and good temper throughout his suffering and the story was extremely influential as pro-animal propaganda but it is also an extremely exciting and moving childrens story.

This England Magazine Autumn 2001 provides a full story of Anna Sewell.