The Archive of Paul Oppé: A Pioneer in the Field of Art History

Archives Hub feature for November 2019

The Paul Oppé Archive is the most significant acquisition in the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art’s history.  It was allocated to the Centre under the government’s Acceptance in Lieu (AiL) scheme in 2017 and therefore – as part of the AiL process – has been assessed by a panel of experts and identified as having both national importance and pre-eminence in its field.  The Centre began collecting Archive material in 1970 and today is the leading UK repository for Art Historian’s papers: the Paul Oppé Archive is an extraordinary resource for study in the field.

Material from the Paul Oppé Archive
Material from the Paul Oppé Archive

Adolf Paul Oppé (1878-1957) was a British art critic, art collector and museum official.  Perhaps most importantly, he was an art historian – a pioneer in the field, working at a time when the discipline was just emerging in the UK.  He wrote many catalogues on English drawings in the Royal Collection at Windsor, as well as monographs on key 18th Century artists, including Alexander Cozens, William Hogarth and Paul Sandby.  Most significantly, he was responsible for establishing the study of British drawings as a scholarly pursuit.  Oppé’s collection of over 3,000 drawings (dated 1750-1850) was acquired by Tate in 1996.

Photograph of Paul Oppé, c1950
Photograph of Paul Oppé, c1950

The Oppé Archive documents the professional and private life of one of the most important scholars in the field.  Alongside material that reflects his work as an art historian, critic, museum official and art collector, it also includes a significant volume of correspondence with, and between, family members.

An Archivist was appointed to catalogue the collection in July 2019 and although the project is not due for completion until April 2020, it is already clear that the material will greatly enhance an understanding of the field.  One of the largest sections of the archive comprises Oppé’s research material on individual artists.  This material reveals much about how he developed his expertise: his knowledge was gained through constant correspondence with a large network of scholars and collectors, complemented by regular trips to see works in galleries, private residences and auction houses.  Accordingly, the collection contains a huge volume of letters.  It also includes many exhibition and auction catalogues which Oppé evidently used as notebooks – liberally annotating them with corrections, new findings and his own personal impressions.  Similar notes, hastily jotted down whilst visiting a private collection or exhibition, are also found on scraps of paper.  These include not only the objective, material qualities of the works such as the physical dimensions or techniques used by the artist, but also details of composition, topography and colour palette.  Some include a sketch of the work itself.  All of this incredibly detailed information was used to correctly attribute and document works, and fed into the descriptive prose utilised in his many monographs.

Research Notes written by Paul Oppé concerning work by Thomas Rowlandson (Archive Ref: APO/1/13/5)
Research Notes written by Paul Oppé concerning work by Thomas Rowlandson (Archive Ref: APO/1/13/5)

The Archive reveals some important stories too.  The artist Francis Towne (1739-1816) was largely unknown when Oppé became acquainted with members of the Merivale Family in 1915. The Merivale Family were descendants of John Herman Merivale, a friend and student of Towne. Oppé learned that Towne had left a large body of work to Merivale and that it had remained with the family. Upon visiting them, Oppé uncovered a treasure trove of British art.  As a collector, he must have been thrilled to find unknown works of this quality, but first and foremost he was a scholar and his motivation was to bring these works to the attention of the art-historical community.  This he did in 1919 with an article published in the Walpole Society journal (Oppé, A.P. (1919) Francis Towne, landscape painter. The Walpole Society, 8. The Walpole Society: Oxford, pp. 95-126. Available in the Paul Mellon Centre Library).   We can see all of this story unfold in the archive and the research he carried out – captured in many letters and research notes – still forms the backbone of studies of the works of Towne to this day.

Francis Towne, Entrance to the Grotto at Posilippo, Naples (1781)
Francis Towne, Entrance to the Grotto at Posilippo, Naples (1781)
Letter from Judith Merivale to Oppé dated 4 February 1920 (Archive Ref: APO/1/16/2)
Letter from Judith Merivale to Oppé dated 4 February 1920 (Archive Ref: APO/1/16/2)

The next stage of the project will look at Oppé’s notebooks.  Oppé was a compulsive note-taker writing simultaneously in a pocket diary, a daily diary, and in his “black books” – which contain a strange mixture of personal and professional musings. He also maintained detailed auction notes and inventories of his renowned collection of prints and drawings, many of which are now at Tate.  From this extraordinarily complete set of records it is possible to work out more or less precisely when, where and for how much, he bought all the items in his vast collection.  The material also illuminates how the drawings market operated in London in the first half of the last century.

Finally, the collection contains a large set of personal papers.  The Oppé family were wealthy Jewish immigrants who lived through the most turbulent years of the twentieth century and the material – in particular the extensive correspondence exchanged with various family members – offers an astute perspective of the social history of the period.

The catalogue of this incredible Archive collection is due to be completed in April 2020 and will be launched online shortly afterwards.  The Centre is also planning a series of events which will celebrate Oppé and his legacy.  These include a small display featuring highlights from the Collection. They also include a workshop and conference exploring the study and display of British drawings.   The range and depth of the Oppé Archive offers a perfect starting point for such discussion.  The material gives us an insight into a period in which the work of many British artists was discovered and in which art history was an emerging academic discipline.  Due to the diligent note-taking and letter writing of Oppé and his contemporaries, the Collection offers an unparalleled resource in the field.

Anthony Day, Paul Oppé Project Archivist
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Related

Paul Oppé Archive, 1876-c 2016

Browse all Paul Mellon Centre collection descriptions available to date on the Archives Hub.

All images copyright Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

Pioneering women’s education at Bedford College

Archives Hub feature for October 2019

170 years ago this month, Bedford College was opened in central London, becoming the first higher education college for women of its kind in the country. It was the brainchild of Elizabeth Jesser Reid, who said it had been her dream since childhood to found a college for women. Her aim for the college was to open up higher education so that women could study at the same level as men and study subjects which at the time were thought of as masculine and not suitable for ladies. These subjects; including the sciences, maths, and Greek, all appear on early timetables for the College’s classes. Elizabeth Jesser Reid’s papers are held within the Bedford College archive and reveal her connections with other prominent women of the time including Jane Martineau, Florence Nightingale, Eliza Bostock and Anna Swanwick.

Elizabeth Jesser Reid, n.d.
Elizabeth Jesser Reid, n.d.

The early years of the College were difficult financially; the student numbers were not as high as Elizabeth Jesser Reid had hoped and there were complaints from the lecturers that students were ill prepared for their classes. This prompted Reid to found a school in the same building to better prepare the students for higher education. Initially the lecturers were all male but Reid stipulated that women should be on the council, and four of the nine members were female. These women were part of the group of Lady Visitors who acted as chaperones to the students attending lectures, ensuring decorum in the classroom. They also helped with the organisation and running of the College, as there were very few administrative staff when it first opened, and their influence was felt throughout the College.

Chemistry lab at York Place, c.1900
Chemistry lab at York Place, c.1900

The early students often lived at home and travelled into college each day to attend classes, and in the first few decades it wasn’t unusual for women to attend one or two classes a week, rather than taking a full time course. It wasn’t possible for the students to obtain degrees until 1878 when the University of London first allowed women to graduate, the first university in the country to do so. Although Reid wanted to provide academic courses rather than being a training school for governesses, the College did offer teacher training from the 1890s and many of the students went on to teach, as it was deemed a suitable career for a woman at the time.

Scene from Iphigenia in Tauris, 1887
Scene from Iphigenia in Tauris, 1887

The teaching of Greek at Bedford resulted in performances of Greek plays put on by students to external audiences. These were a way to prove that women were capable of mastering the language and, with an all-female cast, were turning the tradition of an all-male cast on its head. Bedford’s teaching also included drawing classes, attended by Charles Dickens’ daughter Catherine, which allowed women to study life drawing from real people; again demonstrating the institution’s forward thinking approach to women’s education, as it was more usual for women to study life drawing from statues.

Art studio at York Place, c.1900
Art studio at York Place, c.1900

In the 1890s the College began to offer courses in public health and hygiene, which was a precursor to social work, and led to alumnae of the course going into health inspection. One of these women, Hilda Martindale, went on to become one of the first female government factory inspectors and spent her life campaigning for better working conditions for women and children. This course resulted in Bedford College setting up an international public health nursing course in conjunction with the League of Red Cross Societies and the College of Nursing in 1921. The course attracted students from all over the world including Japan, India, and countries across Europe. This section of the Bedford College archive was digitised and catalogued in detail with funding from The Wellcome Trust and is available to view online: Nursing and Public Health at Bedford College.

International nursing students with the Duchess of Kent, 1936
International nursing students with the Duchess of Kent, 1936

Bedford College grew from its small beginnings in a townhouse in Bedford Square and moved to larger premises in nearby York Place in 1874. In 1913 it moved again to Regent’s Park where it stayed until it merged with Royal Holloway College in 1985, except for a short evacuation to Cambridge during World War Two. The arrival of male postgraduates in 1945 and male undergraduates in 1965 changed the make up of the College but its history as a pioneering women’s institution is still celebrated today.

The Bedford College archive contains a wealth of material about the running of the college and the women and men who studied and worked there. As well as the more formal institutional records, it contains student magazines and photograph albums which give a sense of what it was like to study there. Our personal papers collections include those of prominent academics from Bedford College including Professor Caroline Spurgeon, a Shakespeare scholar who was involved in the International Federation of University Women.

Annabel Valentine
College Archivist
Royal Holloway, University of London

Related

Elizabeth Jesser Reid papers, 1786-1965

Nursing and Public Health at Bedford College, 1896-1980s

Bedford College Papers, 1849-1985

Papers of Professor Caroline Spurgeon, 1890-1936

Browse all Royal Holloway Archives and Special Collections, University of London descriptions available to date on the Archives Hub.

All images copyright Royal Holloway Archives and Special Collections, University of London and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

100 years at Highfield: stories from Southampton’s University Archives and Special Collections

Archives Hub feature for September 2019

Part of an ambitious expansion plan by the University College, Southampton, the first developments at the Highfield Campus were completed in 1914, shortly before the start of the First World War. The College decided to remain in its City Centre base and the Highfield buildings were used as a War Hospital. When the College moved to Highfield in the autumn of 1919, many of the buildings bore “honourable scars” from their service as a hospital and the accommodation was supplemented by the wooden huts added to provide additional wards.

MS1/Phot/39 ph3211 Highfield site with huts
MS1/Phot/39 ph3211 Highfield site with huts

Traces of the hospital origins of some of the additional accommodation – such as the inscription ‘dysentery’ on the door of the staff refectory – were to remain for some time. And for the Principal, Kenneth Vickers, who was appointed in 1922, a priority was not only creating halls of resident for students but improving the buildings on campus. Vickers noted: “On my first day in College I was waylaid by the Professor of Physics who was alarmed at the dangerous condition of his first floor lecture room, which was showing signs of subsiding […]” Vickers, alongside the President, Claude Montefiore, were two of the notable individuals responsible for the development of the College during the 1920s.

Whilst the 1930s were a bad time for the College, amongst developments was the creation of a new library, remedying the most serious lack in facilities since the move to the Highfield campus. Made possible by a substantial donation from Margaret and Mary Turner Sims, the Turner Sims Library was opened in October 1935 by the Duke of York (later King George VI). Described as having a “commodious reading room”, the Library also boasted a stack room for 12,000 volumes and six seminar rooms and was to prove an attractive space for students.

The Second World War was a period of both anxiety and opportunity for University College, Southampton. The decision not to evacuate the Highfield site allowed the College to play a full part in wartime training and education and in research related to the war effort, but meant that students and staff were potentially at risk from enemy action.

MS310/43 A2038/2 Students in front of sandbagged protected University College buildings, 1939
MS310/43 A2038/2 Students in front of sandbagged protected University College buildings, 1939

Student Nora Harvey noted of the air raid precautions: “We have elaborate sheets of cardboard up at Highfield windows which are fixed up with strips of wood slipping into slots at the side… In air raids we are going to congregate in one of the downstairs corridors. It is awfully safe apparently as there are two cement and steel floors above us there and rooms all round and no windows at all.”

Wartime brought other restrictions on student life with all male students on full-time courses required to join the Senior Training Corps or University Air Squadron, student societies forced to close due to pressure of time and travel difficulties affecting sporting fixtures. Entertainment continued as far as possible, although dances were forced to end at 8.30pm, causing “considerable feeling” amongst the student body.

In 1952 Southampton became the first university to be created in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, receiving its royal charter on 29 April of that year. The University of Southampton Act received its Royal Assent on 6 May 1953 and on 3 July the ceremonious installation of new Chancellor, the Duke of Wellington, took place at the Guildhall in Southampton. As part of these celebrations, a message was carried in relay by members of the Southampton Athletics Union from the Chancellor of the University of London to be presented to the Duke.

MS 1/7/291/22/4 Peter Holdstock of the Athletics Union presenting the message from the Chancellor of the University of London to the Duke of Wellington, 3 July 1953
MS 1/7/291/22/4 Peter Holdstock of the Athletics Union presenting the message from the Chancellor of the University of London to the Duke of Wellington, 3 July 1953

The “swinging sixties” were a decade of significant growth and expansion for the university. Key to the development of the Highfield site was architect Sir Basil Spence who had been charged with creating a “master plan” for the Highfield Campus and all the major buildings of this period were designed by him.

The Highfield campus has been the focus of much development in the subsequent decades as the University has expanded to meet growing demands and changes within the higher education sector. Significant for the Special Collections was the development of the Archives Department from 1982 to house the newly acquired papers of the first Duke of Wellington and the creation of new archival facilities as part of a 2002-4 expansion of the Hartley Library.

From the formality of the earlier decades of the twentieth century – even in the 1950s “it was still an era when all students were required to wear a black academic gown at dinner in the evening” – student life has developed to reflect the concerns and interests of its times. The 1960s saw the beginnings of student protest. These varied from a boycott of the refectory about the quality of the food to support for national and international causes. In later decades, student protests have encompassed a wide range of issues, including opposition to the introduction of loans.

MS1/Phot/19/263 No loans protest, 1989
MS1/Phot/19/263 No loans protest, 1989

Sporting endeavour has been a constant throughout the history of University life: from a relatively modest number of sporting societies in the early student days to everything from Aerial Sports to Zumba covered in 2019. Another constant has been the annual RAG, traditionally a highlight of the Winter term. In earlier decades this featured a procession of decorated floats on lorries through the city centre. During the 1950s “the Engineers were always very prominent during Rag … often accompanied by their human skeleton mascot ‘Kelly’.”

MS310/23 A1048 Rag day procession, 1957
MS310/23 A1048 Rag day procession, 1957

For more on Highfield 100, see the Special Collections monthly posts charting the progress of the University decade by decade since 1919: https://specialcollectionsuniversityofsouthampton.wordpress.com/?s=highfield+100

Karen Robson
Archives and Manuscripts
Hartley Library
University of Southampton

Related

Papers of K.H.Vickers, 1920s-1958

Papers of C.J. Goldsmid-Montefiore, 1885-1935

Browse all University of Southampton Special Collections descriptions on the Archives Hub.

Previous features on University of Southampton Special Collections:

The Basque Child Refugee Archive

60 years of faith and conflict

All images copyright University of Southampton Special Collections and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

Unlocking the Asylum: Cataloguing the North Wales Hospital Archive

Archives Hub feature for August 2019

The North Wales Hospital collection is one of the most popular at Denbighshire Archives. It attracts a variety of different service users including family historians, history students, and academics. The collection is one of the top search terms, and in the top ten performing web pages on the services website.

HD/1/452: The architect’s impression of the hospital, dated 1845.
HD/1/452: The architect’s impression of the hospital, dated 1845.

The North Wales Hospital was originally known as the North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum, it opened in October 1848 in response to the growing concern of the treatment of the mentally ill in North Wales. As there was no public institution in North Wales, the mentally ill were often inadequately cared for by families, sent to a union workhouse, or sent to an English asylum. In response a group of landed gentry, clergyman, and businessmen met at Denbigh General Infirmary, to call attention to the need for a hospital for the mentally ill. From the outset the group were keen to distance themselves from the typical image of a Victorian Asylum, where patients were locked away or where mechanical restraints were used. They believed that these should be replaced by kind management and moral discipline, provided to patients in their own language, an ethos which stayed with the hospital throughout its life.

HD/1/81: The minute book of the founders of the hospital, discussing the principles of kind treatment and moral management, dated 1842-1848.
HD/1/81: The minute book of the founders of the hospital, discussing the principles of kind treatment and moral management, dated 1842-1848.

After nearly 150 years the hospital closed in 1995, during this time thousands of patients had passed through its doors. The hospital existed at a time of important developments in the treatment of mental health, and was often at the forefront of new experimental treatments, including Electro Convulsive Therapy, Leucotomy procedures, insulin shock therapy, and pharmaceutical advancements designed to treat neurological diseases such as schizophrenia.

The collection is extensive, it includes management records such as minutes and annual reports, building records including some relating to the initial foundation of the hospital, financial records including annual accounts, and staff records including wage books. As well as records reflecting the administrative side of the hospital, the records also reflect the more social and recreational side of hospital life and include records of patient and staff social clubs, sports teams, music, and cinema showings.

HD/1/443: An exercise class for female patients in the recreation hall, c1950s.
HD/1/443: An exercise class for female patients in the recreation hall, c1950s.

There are numerous patient records including case files dating from the opening of the hospital in 1848, admission, and discharge registers, ward reports, registers of deaths, and a large number of patient reception orders. One of the most exciting features of the collection is the series of 30,000 patient files which date from after the formation of the National Health Service in 1948 and run up until the hospitals closure. They are regarded as being uniquely important, in that, they are a complete collection of mental health records that cover the same geographical area of a fairly static population over a long period of time, making them ideal for comparative study.

Whilst records containing sensitive or personal information are closed to the public for 100 years, they will be available for academic research to those belonging to an academic institution. The records are a vital resource for academics and medical professionals, not only do they track the development of institutional psychiatric care and treatment during an exceptional period of innovation in mental health treatments, they also provide intimate details about the lives of the patients and the world they lived in. The records provide a great deal of detail about the patients, with background information provided by the relatives. This social context produces a rare insight into the lives of those not usually given a voice in the historical record.

Previous work carried out on the collection had been met with an enthusiastic response from service users. It was felt that further projects were needed to completely catalogue the collection to make it more accessible, and to build on the keen interest shown. A scoping survey carried out in 2015 confirmed that if the collection was accessible it would be one of the best and richest research resources for medical humanities in North Wales.

In 2017 Denbighshire Archives received a grant from the Wellcome Research Resources Award to finance the Unlocking the Asylum project. During the two year project the collection has been fully catalogued, repackaged, and assessed for conservation needs. Additionally the series of 30,000 post 1948 patient case files have been fully indexed and repackaged, making them more accessible for academic research than ever before. The patient file index has extracted key details from each file including date of birth, address, admission and discharge dates, dates of death, diagnosis, details of treatments, number of admissions, and details of any supporting documents such as outpatient notes, social work notes, letters, poetry or artwork produced by patients, and reports of court proceedings.

An example of one of 30,000 patient files before and after repackaging.
An example of one of 30,000 patient files before and after repackaging.

The completed collection catalogue will be available via the Denbighshire Archives website and the Archives Hub at the end of the project. Further details on how to access and use the collection will be available on the Denbighshire Archives website at the end of the project in October 2019.

Lindsey Sutton
Project Archivist (Unlocking the Asylum)
Denbighshire Archives

Related

North Wales Hospital, records of (1848-1995)

Browse all Denbighshire Archives collections on the Archives Hub.

All images copyright Denbighshire Archives and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

Pilgrimage and Patronage: The Medieval Collections of Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library

Archives Hub feature for July 2019

On Saturday 6th July 2019 Canterbury hosted the fourth annual Medieval Pageant and Family Trail, commemorating the pilgrimage of King Henry II (r. 1154–1189) to the city in 1174. To mark the occasion, we are highlighting the medieval records relating to the Canterbury Cathedral Priory and the city held in our collections today.

The earliest surviving Canterbury city charter, witnessed by Thomas Becket as Chancellor of England and sealed by King Henry II, dated c. 1155 (CCA-CC-A/A/1)

Anglo-Saxon Canterbury

The Cathedral records date back to the ninth century and tell the story of the Church and community in Canterbury. Some 20 Anglo-Saxon charters are the oldest possessions of the Cathedral, predating the Norman Conquest of 1066 and any of the buildings standing today. These charters concern properties in Kent and across south-eastern England, containing unique evidence of the medieval history, topography and language of the area. A fine example from the collection is the so-called Godwine Charter, composed in c. 1020 (CCA-DCc/ChAnt/S/458).

Written in Old English, the charter details the sale of a swine pasture at Southernden (Swithraedingdaenne) by a certain Godwine to Leofwine the Red and is witnessed by Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury and others. This charter was the upper-half of a ‘chirograph’, a legal document written out twice on a parchment sheet with the word +CYROGRAPHUM+ between the text copies and cut through. This meant that both parties could have a copy, and the authority of the agreement could be proven at any time by matching the two record halves.

The Godwine Charter is a fine example of an Anglo-Saxon chirograph, dated c. 1020 (CCA-DCc/ChAnt/S/458)

Lives of the Saints

As well as charters, the medieval Cathedral Priory (Christ Church) produced and housed a rich collection of illuminated manuscripts. The pre-Reformation Cathedral held over 6,000 manuscript books in its collections, more than any other medieval institution in England. In the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Cathedral’s own scriptorium wrote and decorated works in the Romanesque style of art, including a multi-volume Passionale (Lives of Saints). Originally seven volumes, in the 1570s and 1580s following the Dissolution the Passionale was dismembered for use as binding waste and covers for church court proceedings.

Depiction of the martyrdom of St Vincent, from a twelfth-century Passionale (CCA-DCc/LitMs/E/42, f. 9r)

The remains of the Passionale survive today across several collections, with 60 leaves remaining in Canterbury (CCA-DCc/LitMs/E/42). The surviving leaves are an outstanding example of Romanesque art, featuring elements such as narrative decoration. The narrative of the text is placed within the body of the initial of the opening word, at the beginning of texts. This can be seen at the beginning of the life of the Spanish martyr St Vincent (d. 304). The initial ‘P’ contains a depiction of St Vincent’s death, being flayed by his pagan persecutors. The animated figures and bright array of colours capture the viewer’s attention, as well as the intricate foliate interlacing and animal forms.

A Site of Pilgrimage

Canterbury became a major centre of pilgrimage in the later twelfth century after the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket. He was murdered in the Cathedral on 29 December 1170, by four knights from the court of Henry II. Becket was canonised three years later, and pilgrims flocked to his shrine to pray for miracles and cures for ailments. Visitors to the city stayed in inns and hospitals, charitable institutions that offered shelter, food, spiritual and physical care. One such institution was the Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr, Eastbridge, founded in the late twelfth century.

Grant by the widow Avicia to the Eastbridge Hospital, dated c. 1200 (CCA-U24/4/A/12)

The Eastbridge Hospital received grants and donations from the Cathedral Priory and wealthy members of the city. One charter dated c. 1200 is a grant from a widow named Avicia to Eastbridge of property in Jewry Lane, All Saints’ parish. The grant includes Avicia’s seal. Such charters provide useful evidence for the role of medieval women in Canterbury, and the city’s strong Jewish community during this time. Open to the public today to visit, Eastbridge recently featured in the ‘Plantagenet Canterbury’ episode of Britain’s Most Historic Towns shown on Channel 4 and presented by Professor Alice Roberts of the University of Birmingham.

The Canterbury Magna Carta

The dispute between Church and Crown continued into the thirteenth century, culminating in the issuing of Magna Carta (a Latin term meaning Great Charter) in 1215. Sealed by King John at Runnymede, Magna Carta made the King subject to the law, protected the rights of freemen and established the freedom of the Church in England. There are four known surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta today, including one charter held in the British Library that has been identified as Canterbury Cathedral’s copy of the Great Charter (London, British Library, Cotton Charter XIII 31A). Professor David Carpenter of King’s College, London uncovered the connection between Canterbury and the charter as part of the Magna Carta project that concluded in 2015, the 800th anniversary of the charter’s issue.

The opening of the transcription copy of the 1215 Canterbury Magna Carta, dated 1290s (CCA-DCc/Register/E, ff. 46v-48v)

Professor Carpenter studied the text of a transcription made in the 1290s of the 1215 Magna Carta held at the Cathedral (DCc/Register/E, ff. 46v-48v), revealing unique readings of the text only present in the British Library charter. This exciting rediscovery confirms the survival of the Canterbury copy of the Great Charter, and strengthens the links between the Cathedral and the story of Magna Carta. Furthermore, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, was chief negotiator between the King and barons during the meetings at Runnymede in 1215, and probably involved in drafting the text of the charter. In 2016, the pre-Reformation archive of the Cathedral was added to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register, thus gaining recognition as one of the most important collections of its type.

For more information on the Medieval Pageant and Family Trail on 6 July 2019, see the webpage for more information:  https://www.canterburybid.co.uk/canterbury-medieval-pageant/

Discover more about collections on the Canterbury Cathedral webpage: https://www.canterbury-Cathedral.org/heritage/archives-library/

Alison Ray, Assistant Archivist
Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library

Related:

Records of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, c800 – [ongoing]

All Canterbury Cathedral Archives collections on the Archives Hub.

Previous features on Canterbury Cathedral Archives Collections:

Heavenly Harmony: Music in the Collections of Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library

 All images copyright of the Chapter of Canterbury and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

The Archives of the Trevelyans of Wallington

Archives Hub feature for June 2019

In 2018 Newcastle University Special Collections published an updated catalogue for the archive of Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan on the Archives Hub. A socialist MP, anti-war campaigner and member of the first two Labour cabinets, Sir Charles is known for twice resigning his cabinet seat in protest against government actions as well as donating the family estate of Wallington to the National Trust. The Archive has been held at Newcastle since the 1960s, and a previous catalogue created in the 1970s listed documents relating to Sir Charles’ professional life and political career.

The project to produce the new digital catalogue has made a substantial quantity of previously uncatalogued and inaccessible content available alongside this material. This content sheds light on the other characters in Sir Charles’ family – in particular his wife, Mary Katharine Trevelyan, but also their children, staff and extended families.

The Trevelyan family, 1910 (CPT/PA/5)
The Trevelyan family, 1910 (CPT/PA/5).

Mary Katharine Trevelyan, known as Molly, was born Mary Katharine Bell in 1881. Her parents were author Florence, Lady Bell and industrialist Sir Hugh Bell. The family, including Mary’s half-sister, the famed explorer and diplomat Gertrude Bell, lived in Redcar, North Yorkshire. The newly catalogued correspondence offers the chance to understand Mary’s early family life through letters written to her parents. They include accounts of her childhood at the family home Red Barns, her education and visits to Europe with her sister Elsa.

Mary Katharine Bell, 1903 (CPT/PA/1)
Mary Katharine Bell, 1903 (CPT/PA/1).

Mary ‘came out’ in society in 1899, and the four years between this and her engagement with Charles are recorded in her personal diaries. The diaries reveal the whirl of pre-war society enjoyed by affluent young people. In 1902 Mary was courted by three young men, including Charles. Her memoirs written in the 1960s recall that ‘At a dance in Mansfield Street one young man asked me to marry him; a second would have done the same if I had not checked him before it happened – and the third who held my heart in thrall, sat back and laughed (The Number of my Days, 1962, M K Trevelyan, Newcastle University, Rare Books Collection, RB 942 TRE). In 1903 Charles proposed again, and Mary accepted. The pair were married in January 1904, and their correspondence features lengthy discussions about arrangements for their big day, as well as their first home together at 14 Great College Street, Westminster.

Election ephemera, c.1906 (CPT/1/3/4)
Election ephemera, c.1906 (CPT/1/3/4).

The couple had six children between 1905 and 1920, five of whom survived into adulthood. In the early years of their marriage Charles and Mary were often apart, with Charles attending parliament in London and Mary caring for the children (alongside domestic staff) at their home at Cambo House on the Wallington estate. They wrote to each other every day that they were apart, resulting in over 50 files of letters between the two for this 15 year period alone. They wrote love letters, apologised for arguments and discussed their reading. Charles expresses misgivings at his performance in Parliament and Mary her frustration that they are so often apart. The tone of the letters ranges from incredibly intimate to extremely practical.

Bundles of Trevelyan family correspondence prior to repackaging
Bundles of Trevelyan family correspondence prior to repackaging.

The newly added material also features substantial content relating to the development and education of the Trevelyan children; Pauline, George, Kitty, Marjorie, Patricia and Geoffrey. The collection features their letters home from boarding school. The Trevelyans chose to send their older children to the co-educational Sidcot – a Quaker school in Somerset. Their correspondence continues into adulthood and includes content regarding their own marriages and the lives of their children. Letters from their adulthood reflect their fascinating and diverse lives, featuring (amongst other things) solo hikes across Canada, working as shepherdesses, life in Hitler’s Germany and aeronautical engineering.

Extract of letter from Kitty Trevelyan to her parents, 1920(CPT/4/4/14/14)
Extract of letter from Kitty Trevelyan to her parents, 1920 (CPT/4/4/14/14).

The updated archive catalogue is complimented by the online publication of the family photograph albums, via Newcastle Special Collections’ Page Turners resource. Photographs of the family playing at home or visiting relatives sit alongside newspaper cuttings about their careers. Correspondence can therefore be cross referenced with the relevant album, revealing more information about the people who appear in the images and the family’s activities.

Labour Party Election Leaflet, 1929 (CPT/1/3/19/7)
Labour Party Election Leaflet, 1929 (CPT/1/3/19/7).

In the same year the new catalogue was published, the Trevelyan’s family home Wallington Hall, celebrated 50 years of being open to the public as a National Trust property. Improved access to the archive enabled Newcastle University to better support the celebrations, providing guidance on relevant archive material and digital images for use on promotional materials. As part of the celebrations, a performance and panel discussion titled ‘Gifted to a Grateful Nation?’ was prepared jointly by Newcastle University, performing arts company the November Club and the National Trust, held at Newcastle University Kings Hall. Chaired by Dr Tom Schofield and featuring academics, actors and members of the Trevelyan family, the event explored the motivations behind Sir Charles’ decision to donate Wallington the National Trust, and the legacy of this bequest.

The Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive is a rich research resource for a range of subject areas, including twentieth century politics, socialism, landed families, childhood and women’s history. It is available for public consultation at Newcastle University Special Collections, with requests to be made in advance. The catalogue can be found on the Archives Hub. Digitised versions of the family’s photograph albums, which form part of the collection, are available on Special Collections’ Page Turners resource, and a selection of other digitised content can be accessed via Newcastle University’s Collections Captured website.

Alexandra Healey
Project Archivist
Special Collections, Newcastle University

Related

Trevelyan (Charles Edward) Archive, 1807-1886

Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive, 1761-1965

Trevelyan (George Otto) Archive, 1838-1928

Trevelyan (Walter Calverley) Archive, 1797-1870

Bell (Gertrude) Archive, 1874-1938

Browse all Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives descriptions available to date on the Archives Hub.

All images copyright Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

 

 

 

Carter Vincent archives and the Kneeshaw family papers

Archives Hub feature for May 2019

Carter Vincent archives

Carter Vincent was a prominent and family run firm of solicitors at Bangor, North Wales. The early family members were clerics but the solicitor profession soon took over. The Carter Vincent Archives held at Bangor University Archives and Special Collections span over 350 years and comprise the papers which the firm generated as part of its own business, as well as the records that they held by or on behalf of clients. The papers (currently numbering in excess of 5000 items) consist of draft and copy leases, conveyances, mortgages, abstracts of title, property deeds and other documents relating to properties and families in the old Welsh counties of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth and Montgomery, as well as the English counties of Hereford, Lancashire, Somerset and Devon. They also include personalia, including financial papers, letters from clients, notices and various other documents. The firm’s clients included prominent figures in the locality and it acted for the Penrhyn Estate and the Diocese of Bangor. The firm is still trading in Bangor in 2019, under the name Carter Vincent LLP.

Cataloguing the papers began in the 1950s when the firm deposited over 3000 items. A further set of papers followed in 1969 and then a third in the 1990s – all of which have been catalogued and are available to research in paper format in the Archives. However, we are aware of the need and demand to make these catalogues available online and work has already begun to input the data onto our online catalogue. As a research resource their potential is immense; providing rich evidence for analysing issues such as estate management, land use and tenure, ownership patterns, building history, changes in local topography and community structures. The Archives are fully committed to ensuring that the incredible research, teaching and outreach potential of the collection is fully unlocked.

Additional documents have been received since and are currently being sorted and catalogued by one of our volunteers, Lionel, a local solicitor himself. Our submission to Archives Hub this month focusses on a letter and patent specification discovered by Lionel in a bundle of papers relating to the Kneeshaws, a prominent family in North Wales and a significant client of Carter Vincent.

Kneeshaw family papers

Wilfred Shafto Kneeshaw was the only son of Henry Kneeshaw of Penmaenmawr (JP, Deputy Lieutenant, Sheriff of Caernarvonshire). He began his military career as a Private with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (later Lieutenant) and later became a Captain in the 66th Training Reserve of the Welsh Regiment.

He was badly wounded in August 1915 and, whilst recovering, spent his time researching and inventing a rifle stand, an idea which possibly came from his direct experience of warfare in the trenches.

Letter from W.S. Kneeshaw to ‘Trevor’ [Mr Trevor of Carter Vincent, Solicitors, Bangor] regarding an invention he intends to patent
Letter from W.S. Kneeshaw to ‘Trevor’ [Mr Trevor of Carter Vincent, Solicitors, Bangor] regarding an invention he intends to patent. Included is a photograph of a prototype and the specification (below).
Photograph of a prototype of the invention by W.S. Kneeshaw.
Photograph of a prototype of the invention by W.S. Kneeshaw.
Page one of the specification by W.S. Kneeshaw.
Page one of the specification by W.S. Kneeshaw.
Page two of the specification by W.S. Kneeshaw.
Page two of the specification by W.S. Kneeshaw.

He took out a Patent for his invention in March 1916 – whether this design made it to the trenches or not is unknown:

“Patent: 101,441. Machine rests for.-Consists of a rifle stand for use when firing a rifle grenade. The stand comprises a front support 11 having at the top a pivoted fork 13 for the forepart of the rifle, and an inclined trough or guideway 15 for the butt of the rifle. The butt rests on a padded shoe 19 adapted to be adjusted along the trough 15, which may be graduated, by a handle 26. The shoe can be clamped in position by a screw and nut 22, 24”

Cited from: European Patent Office, GB101441 (A) – Rifle Stand for Use when Firing a Rifle Grenade, Application number: GB19160004302 19160323,   https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19160921&DB=&locale=&CC=GB&NR=101441A&KC=A&ND=1# [Accessed April 2019].

Patent for Kneeshaw's 'Rifle Stand for Use when Firing a Rifle Grenade', Bibliographic data: GB101441 (A) ? 1916-09-21. European Patent Office.
Patent for Kneeshaw’s ‘Rifle Stand for Use when Firing a Rifle Grenade’, Bibliographic data: GB101441 (A) ? 1916-09-21. European Patent Office (European Patent Office website screenshot, April 2019).

Lynette Hunter
Archivist
Bangor University

Related

Carter Vincent Manuscripts, 1597-1943

Carter, Vincent & Co., Additional Papers, 1570-1857

Browse all Bangor University Archives descriptions available to date on the Archives Hub.

Previous features on the Bangor University Archives collections:

The Welsh in Patagonia

Sentimental Journey: a focus on travel in the archives

All images copyright Bangor University Archives and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Archives: celebrating 75 years of female members

Archives Hub feature for April 2019

The British Paediatric Association (BPA), which became the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in 1996, was founded in 1928. After an inaugural meeting of six attendees, its membership grew to 60 in the first year. The members had a few things in common: they all worked in or had a professional interest in practicing, teaching or researching paediatrics, and they were exclusively men.

In the 19th century, there was huge prejudice against women as doctors and many were unable to study medicine in the UK. World War I gave women the opportunity to progress in medicine as medical schools began allocating places to women to fill the spaces left by men away fighting, but after the end of the war, they were banned from studying medicine again until the 1930s. This led to many women leaving to study abroad, mostly in Europe, before returning to the UK to take up posts.

Most female doctors of the early 20th century were unmarried and childless, and many left the profession after starting a family. At this time, women also usually came into paediatrics from other routes, such as general practice or public health, rather than specialising from the start of their career.

Career guide for married women pursuing paediatrics produced by the BPA due to the increasing number of women graduating in medicine, of which many left the profession due to family commitments. The document proposes that establishing suitable posts and offering retraining schemes and financial inducements could support female paediatricians. 1972 [archive reference: RCPCH/007/141]
Career guide for married women pursuing paediatrics produced by the BPA due to the increasing number of women graduating in medicine, of which many left the profession due to family commitments. The document proposes that establishing suitable posts and offering retraining schemes and financial inducements could support female paediatricians. 1972 [archive reference: RCPCH/007/141]
Although there was nothing in the early rules of the BPA to say that membership was exclusively for men, only male doctors were invited to become members and attend the first meeting in May 1928. The aims established when the BPA was founded were to advance the study of paediatrics and to promote friendship amongst paediatricians, but this did not seem to extend to the female paediatricians male members were working alongside in hospitals.

This led to an awkward situation in 1938 when the BPA planned a joint meeting with the Canadian Paediatric Society. As women were allowed to be members of the Canadian society but not in the British Association, the BPA were in a situation where they were treating Canadian female doctors as their equals, but not the women they worked with. At a meeting of the Executive Committee, it was unanimously decided that female members of the Canadian Society would be invited to the meeting as they would be coming as members rather than individual guests. It was stated that “this should not be regarded as a precedent” and British women continued to be excluded.

Minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee discussing whether to invite female members of the Canadian Paediatrics Society to a joint meeting in London, 1938 [archive reference: RCPCH/004/002/006]
Minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee discussing whether to invite female members of the Canadian Paediatrics Society to a joint meeting in London, 1938 [archive reference: RCPCH/004/002/006]
Discussions of admitting women to the BPA began in the early 1930s after being raised by various members but each time it was agreed no action would be taken. It wasn’t until April 1944 that a vote was taken at a meeting of the Executive Committee on whether to admit women as members. Minutes of the meeting state that the BPA was “criticised as not representing those actively engaged in the Practice or Teaching of Paediatrics or in Paediatric Research”, reflecting the growing numbers of women in paediatrics.

All members were asking if they would be in favour of amending the rules for women to be elected as members and the response was in favour of changing the rules, although not by a large margin. Of the 65 members, 45 responded, with 34 in favour of allowing women to become members, 12 against and one member remaining “doubtful”. It was a step forward for equality in the profession, and at the next Annual General Meeting in 1945, the first women were elected into the BPA. Catherine Chisholm became an Honorary Member and Helen MacKay, Hazel Chodak-Gregory and Beryl Corner were made ordinary members.

Minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee showing the vote to admit female members into the BPA, 1944 [archive reference: RCPCH/004/003/011]
Minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee showing the vote to admit female members into the BPA, 1944 [archive reference: RCPCH/004/003/011]
While it was a step forward for the Association, female paediatricians still faced prejudice in their work. June Lloyd, the first female president of the BPA, was advised early in her career to pursue a specialty that was less male-dominated than paediatrics and Mildred Creak, the first purely psychiatrist member of the BPA who joined in 1949, applied for over 90 jobs before securing a post. It was the determination of women like these that aided the acceptance and rise of women in paediatrics.

Painted design of the RCPCH Coat of Arms featuring June Lloyd, 1997 [archive reference: RCPCH/009/001/014]
Painted design of the RCPCH Coat of Arms featuring June Lloyd, 1997 [archive reference: RCPCH/009/001/014]
While criticised in its early days for not representing female doctors, the BPA quickly became supportive all members and were recognised for their achievements, regardless of gender. Dame June Lloyd was instrumental in the BPA becoming the RCPCH and features as a supporter on the coat of arms alongside Thomas Phaire, and is one of the few coats of arms to include a woman.

Today, 60% of members are women and, although much has been achieved in the past 75 years, the RCPCH still continues to strive for gender equality and examines what we can do as a College to support and encourage women in the profession.

Kate Veale
Archivist and Information Governance Co-ordinator
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Related

Records of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 1928 to Present Day on the Archives Hub.

RCPCH Archives online catalogue

Explore more Paediatrics collections on the Archives Hub

All images copyright Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

The Devonshire Family Collections at Chatsworth

Archives Hub feature for March 2019

The Devonshire Collection Archives held at Chatsworth span over 450 years and date back to the time of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c.1527-1708, better known as Bess of Hardwick), with elements of the archive dating from even earlier. They document the lives, careers and estate management of the Cavendish family – one of the most important aristocratic families in English history, counting amongst its number politicians, art connoisseurs and collectors, industrialists, and leading society figures.

Filling over 6,000 boxes, the archives can be divided broadly into estate and family papers. The family papers comprise the personal archives of many of the Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire, other family members, families who married into the Cavendish line, and some individuals who had a close association with the family, such as the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and the landscape gardener and architect Sir Joseph Paxton.

Sorting and listing of the family correspondence began in the 1920s, resulting in several extremely large series of correspondence focused on chronological or specific ducal periods. However, our first submissions to the Archives Hub – published this month – focus primarily on a separate group of smaller archives known as the ‘Devonshire Family Collections’. These predominantly date from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, although they do contain some much earlier material – notably in the form of papers relating to the marital dispute between Bess of Hardwick and her fourth husband George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. Money and property played a major role in this dispute, but the rift between husband and wife was exacerbated by Shrewsbury’s role as custodian of Mary Queen of Scots for 15 years. So notable were the couple involved that Queen Elizabeth I herself intervened in an attempt to reconcile husband and wife – although this ultimately had little effect.

Letter from Elizabeth I to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 12 May 1586.
Letter from Elizabeth I to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 12 May 1586, mediating in the dispute between the Earl and his wife, Bess of Hardwick.

From the 18th and 19th centuries, there are extensive networks of family correspondence. Letters were exchanged between family members in the UK – between those resident at or moving between different properties and estates, between city and country, and between parents and children at school. Letters also crossed continents as a crucial means of keeping in touch when family members were travelling or working abroad: there are letters home from family members undertaking the continental Grand Tour in the eighteenth century; letters from William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, sent home from an American trip in 1859; and – from the same writer as a much younger man – some wonderfully detailed letters sent to his mother from Russia in 1826, where he accompanied the 6th Duke of Devonshire to attend the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I. Amongst descriptions of palaces, country houses, working mills, customs and language, the voice of an 18-year-old also shines through: in one letter he remarks rather wearily that he hopes when they get to Moscow they will not have to look at any more relics of Peter the Great as they have seen so many already.

Cavendish family members served for centuries as MPs in the Whig and Liberal cause, so there is extensive political correspondence amongst the family papers. The papers of Spencer Compton Cavendish, the 8th Duke (better known throughout his political career as the Marquess of Hartington) include letters from W.E. Gladstone amongst others. His wife’s papers (Louise Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire) contain letters of condolence she received on his death, including one from a young Winston Churchill expressing his gratitude for having had an opportunity to work with the 8th Duke. Also notable are the papers of the 8th Duke’s brother, Lord Frederick Cavendish (1836-82), which contain references to the 1867 Reform Act, industrial reform, education and much more. There are also posthumous papers relating to his death in a politically-motivated murder in Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1882.

Photograph of Spencer Compton Cavendish when he was Marquess of Hartington, c.1880.
Photograph of Spencer Compton Cavendish when he was Marquess of Hartington, c.1880.

In addition to letters, there are diaries of various family members, including one documenting the 4th Duke of Devonshire’s Grand Tour in 1739-40; scrapbooks and commonplace books – including some compiled by Duchess Georgiana (1757-1806), whose papers also contain some of her own literary manuscripts; personal and household accounts; official documents; and keepsakes and mementoes such as locks of hair treasured by parents and spouses in memory of lost family members.

‘The Dog’, a manuscript poem by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.
‘The Dog’, a manuscript poem by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. This is just one of the archival items which will be on display at Chatsworth this year as part of a major exhibition ‘The Dog: A Celebration’, running from
23 March-6 October 2019.

Special mention must be made of William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858). An art collector and bibliophile who loved entertaining and travel, he was also responsible for transforming Chatsworth through the addition of the great North Wing and his support of Joseph Paxton’s innovative work in the gardens. As so many of the family collections date from the 19th century, he and his activities feature in many of them.

Photograph of the 6th Duke dating from c.1852.
Photograph of the 6th Duke dating from c.1852.

The 6th Duke also had a great archival sensibility and his own papers are particularly rich: significant trips, visits or activities are meticulously recorded in scrapbooks containing letters, cuttings, tickets, invitations, calling cards and other printed ephemera (Papers of William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire). Alongside journals, diaries and notebooks, he also kept yearly datebooks detailing places he visited. A great socialiser, he recorded lists of acquaintances as well as keeping guest books and visitors’ books.

An excerpt from one of the 6th Duke’s guest books, in which his guests’ weights were recorded using his ‘weighing machine’.
An excerpt from one of the 6th Duke’s guest books, in which his guests’ weights were recorded using his ‘weighing machine’. This excerpt, from 1816-17, shows that the Grand Duke Nicholas (later the Tsar of Russia) weighed 13 stone 7 pounds – exactly the same as his friend the 6th Duke who appears as the third entry.

There are also the manuscript and proofs of his Handbook to Chatsworth and Hardwick (1844), which stands the test of time as an engaging and accessible guide book to his two principal houses; his writing was admired by Charles Dickens, who read his copy of the Handbook on a train journey back to London after visiting the 6th Duke at Chatsworth and commented that the writing was worthy of a novelist.

An excerpt from the 6th Duke’s joke book
An excerpt from the 6th Duke’s joke book: he was an enthusiastic collector of jokes and witticisms, which he carefully recorded and indexed by theme (from ‘moral’ to ‘highly improper and unfit’).

Most of the family collections now have item-level catalogues available in PDF form via the Chatsworth website. Many of the other, larger, collections have item-level lists in various states and formats which can be provided on request. We will be submitting further collection-level descriptions to the Archives Hub in due course.

Fran Baker
Archivist & Librarian
Chatsworth

Related

Browse all Devonshire Collection Archives, Chatsworth descriptions available to date on the Archives Hub.

The Dog: A celebration at Chatsworth
Exhibition: 23 March – 6 October 2019

All images copyright Chatsworth House Trust and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.

“Gather them in” – the musical treasures of W.T. Freemantle

Archives Hub feature for February 2019

A new exhibition at the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery at the University of Leeds explores the story of a forgotten Yorkshireman whose achievements are now being reassessed.

Dr Bryan White, Senior Lecturer in the School of Music at the University of Leeds, has been researching the material collected by the Sheffield-based organist, antiquarian and collector William Thomas Freemantle (1849-1931). Dr White’s investigations have revealed a tenacious collector who would “endure martyrdom in Siberia” to acquire unique treasures for his library.

Photograph of W.T. Freemantle, 1912. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, MS 1700/6/7.
Photograph of W.T. Freemantle, 1912. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, MS 1700/6/7.

W.T. Freemantle’s musical interests extended widely and he gathered a valuable collection of manuscripts and prints. Much of this material has only recently been catalogued, and more still remains to be explored.

“W.T.” was born in Chichester and moved with his family to Sheffield in 1855. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed organist at Lincoln Cathedral and developed an interest in the music of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

Engraving of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy made by A.H. Payne and W.C. Wrankmore, after a portrait by Theodore Hildebrand (c.1835). Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.
Engraving of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy made by A.H. Payne and W.C. Wrankmore, after a portrait by Theodore Hildebrand (c.1835). Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.

Freemantle’s enthusiasm for Mendelssohn ran against the tide. At the mid-point of the nineteenth century the composer was a towering figure in the musical landscape, particularly in Britain. Mendelssohn’s reputation waned in subsequent decades, but Freemantle continued to value his music highly. Today Mendelssohn is again one of the most popular Romantic composers, and Freemantle’s collection has much to offer the researcher.

Freemantle described his metamorphosis into a collector in a lecture entitled “How I became an autograph collector and what I have got”. He tells of a visit to a Sheffield market where he stumbled upon a “rather soiled looking lot of manuscript music”. As he worked through the pile he found a Mendelssohn signature and felt “my blood had heated, my pulse had quickened” … “Oh! That bundle of music! I was now indeed an autograph collector.”

Autograph manuscript of Mendelssohn’s “Sonata” in B flat minor, 1823. This is the only source for this early sonata. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, BC MS Mendelssohn/Scores 1.
Autograph manuscript of Mendelssohn’s “Sonata” in B flat minor, 1823. This is the only source for this early sonata. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, BC MS Mendelssohn/Scores 1.

Several decades later his Mendelssohn collection encompassed 40 autograph manuscript scores, 300 letters, and hundreds of books, musical prints, concert programmes and other ephemera touching upon all aspects of the composer’s life and that of his family and colleagues. In the 1870s Freemantle began a biography of the composer, but eventually put the project aside when the extent of the surviving material overwhelmed him.

Engraving of Fanny Mendelssohn and her husband Wilhelm Hensel (August Weger and Johann-Paul Singer, 1846). Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.
Engraving of Fanny Mendelssohn and her husband Wilhelm Hensel (August Weger and Johann-Paul Singer, 1846). Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.

Freemantle collected music by other significant figures, and in particular committed himself to the music of Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), a prolific composer of theatre music and songs. Freemantle acquired a substantial set of Dibdin’s autograph manuscripts, working with great skill and dedication to organise and identify this very disordered material.

Charles Dibdin, autograph sketches of “Here’s all her gear” from his comic opera Rose and Colin, 1778. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, MS 1700/2/38.
Charles Dibdin, autograph sketches of “Here’s all her gear” from his comic opera Rose and Colin, 1778. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, MS 1700/2/38.

W.T. also took a strong interest in Sheffield history. He acquired books, pottery, painting, prints and tokens from the local area and wrote and lectured on local history. His collection of Rockingham pottery was eventually bought by the Sheffield Corporation and now resides at Weston Park Museum along with his collection of coins and seals.

Freemantle sold his Mendelssohn collection along with his entire library to Lord Brotherton of Wakefield sometime in 1927-28. The purchase was probably brokered by Brotherton’s personal librarian, J. Alexander Symington (1887-1961). Symington had oversight of the Freemantle Collection before it was formally accessioned by the University Library in Leeds, and he took the opportunity to sell significant parts of the Mendelssohn and Dibdin material to libraries and collectors in the United States. His actions played a significant role in suppressing the extent of Freemantle’s activities and his reputation as a collector.

Photograph of W.T. Freemantle and family at Barbot Hall, 1913. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.
Photograph of W.T. Freemantle and family at Barbot Hall, 1913. Leeds University Library, Special Collections, Brotherton Collection, uncatalogued holdings.

Had Freemantle’s music collections remained intact he would be recognised as a pioneering figure in Mendelssohn studies, and more widely as a significant British collector of his era. Thankfully, the rest of Freemantle’s materials were left untouched and now form an important part of Special Collections at the University of Leeds. Now that Freemantle’s work is being reassessed, the real story of his achievements can begin to be told!

The exhibition runs from 1 March-31 July 2019 in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery at the University of Leeds.

On show for the first time to the general public are many of the Mendelssohn manuscript scores housed in Special Collections at Leeds University Library, alongside other items from Freemantle’s extensive music collections.

The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery is free and open to all. For directions, opening times and our programme of related events see:

https://library.leeds.ac.uk/galleries

Get all the latest news and behind the scenes insights by following the Gallery on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – @LULGalleries

Special Collections at Leeds University Library is home to hundreds of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, archives and artworks. Our collections offer a rich resource for staff, students, and the wider research community. Start your search here:

https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections

Dr Bryan White
Senior Lecturer, School of Music, University of Leeds

Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis
Collections and Engagement Manager, Special Collections, University of Leeds

Related

Miscellaneous papers collected by W.T. Freemantle, ca.1775-ca.1925

Browse all University of Leeds Special Collections descriptions on the Archives Hub.

The Mendelssohn papers, mid-18th-19th century (held by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford)

Previous features on the University of Leeds Special Collections:

Sentimental Journey: a focus on travel in the archives

Recipes through the ages 

World War One

All images copyright University of Leeds Special Collections and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holders.