Registered Charity No 1137522

BURGON NOTES - ISSUE No. 28 - Summer, 2014

The University of HULL

1 From the Chairman Peter Galloway, a member of the Society, we The last few months have been busy have the use of The Queen’s Chapel of the and productive for the Society. In particular, Savoy, where he is Chaplain. Another histor- we have been fortunate to have received very ical building with ties to the Monarch, I be- generous donations of many hoods and robes lieve members will find the space well-suited of the predecessor institutions of the to our needs. University of Manchester. The details of I look forward to seeing many of you these donations are in the Archivist’s column, there and hope for good weather so that we but it would be remiss of me, wearing my can use the garden. Chairman’s cap, if I did not thank publicly Mr Colin Fleming Robin Richardson, the Chairman of J. Wippell & Co., Exeter, for facilitating the From the Archivist donation of these items. Early in March 2014 I received an In this issue you will read reports of the email from Robin Richardson, Chairman of Society’s visit to the University of Hull in J Wippell & Co. in March and of the Spring Conference held in Exeter. He explained London in May. Both events were well at- that, as a result of the tended and proved stimulating. amalgamation of The second volume of Shaw III, which Victoria University of addresses the academical dress of non-degree Manchester and awarding institutions, was launched at the UMIST to form the Spring Conference and sales have been brisk. University of Further details follow on page x. Manchester, Wippell Members may know that I have a was ridding itself of its particular fondness for the Society’s Spring redundant stocks of the Conference. This conference continues to predecessor mature as a forum for sharing on-going institutions’ robes and would the Society be research, some little nuggets unearthed in the interested in a near-complete set of UMIST most unlikely of places, more information on robes for the Society’s Collection? I rose great characters in the field of academical quickly to this particular lure and shortly dress and for reading-in of new Fellows. This thereafter a box arrived at my office in year’s event saw no fewer than seven London containing these robes. Within the scheduled talks and an impromptu letter consigning these robes to us there was demonstration from Fr Kenneth Crawford of an offer of any Victoria hoods that we might a recently completed Chancellor’s gown for not have. Once again, the lure was irresistible the University of Divinity in Australia. We and shortly thereafter another box arrived. In ran over time, but it was worth it. all, 31 items were received. Looking forward to the Annual Gener- UMIST al Meeting and Congregation on 4 October The Collection now 2014, many of you will have seen that we has all earned UMIST have a new venue for this year’s gathering. awards, other than the The Charterhouse is under increasing pres- MLitt, which was awarded sure from its governing body to charge mar- only once and the recipient ket prices for using its ‘grand rooms’, and the purchased the hood, and Society’s Trustees could not justify spending the higher doctors (which the amount proposed for 2014. However, Wippell did not store). through the offices of The Revd Professor The hoods represent:

2 PGDip, BSc, and BEng; the Other institutions first-degree Master awards We have also of MChem and MEng; MSc, acquired the robes of a PhD MPhil (p2, upper) and the (in Science) of City robes of a PhD (p2, lower). University, London, and the Victoria Manchester used Fellow’s hood of the terra cotta silk for its Institute of Trichologists technology degrees and that (left) and the Tricological colour features prominently Society. The latter was in the UMIST robes. established in 1999 when some of the In addition, we have hoods for the members of the Institute thought that not UMIST MEng and MSc enough academic research was being done or (Tech), when these were sponsored by the Institute. This might explain awarded by Victoria. why the hoods are very similar, both using a Victoria Manchester Dublin [f2] shape and a similar arrangement We now possess a of linings and facings. near complete set of Victoria Colin Fleming Manchester hoods, too. A few hoods are missing (some Visit to the University of Hull were discarded by Wippell Nineteen members of the Society from before the offer to us was across England, as well as from Wales and made), including a couple of Medicine Scotland, were given an extremely warm awards, for example ChM. Some of the welcome to the University of Hull where they prettier and more obscure hoods include the met in the University House (the home of the BNurs (above right) and the striking LLM University’s Student Union). In excellent and (above lower right). comfortable facilities the members were If anyone knows of the hood of BA/ welcomed by the Chairman, Colin Fleming BSc (via part-time study), ChM or who introduced Dr Richard Baker, a graduate BMedSci(Dentistry) that are looking for a of the University, home, please let me know. Hull As a result of the Society’s visit to Hull in March, I contacted Mr Richardson to enquire whether any of the original prototypes made at Dr Charles Franklyn’s request had been retained by Wippell after the contract to supply the robes was awarded to Ede & Ravenscroft. Alas, no; but we have been loaned the original correspondence between the Company, the University of Hull, Dr Franklyn and others involved. We have been granted permission to reproduce the files prior to returning them to J Wippell & Co later this Detail of the Hull Chancellor’s year. gown - CAHF’s original design

who made a presentation

3 Hull MA hood looking at the history of the design of the Hull former BD hood, Happy Hull Party People now MTheol gowns and hoods of the University and the academical dress of Medical School, right through to the recently designed and of HYMS. The officers’ robes were provided by Peter Buckley (University Beadle) along with robes kindly provided by Ede & Ravenscroft, from the Society’s own archives and from Richard Baker’s collection. After a buffet lunch members went on a whistle-stop tour of the campus, under the Hull York Medical School direction of Gill Anderson, PA to the Obverse Registrar (who had done so much to enable the event to take place). Several commented the University of Hull on the pleasantness of the campus and the Hull York Medical School (1954) and the Hull Reverse blend of buildings from the 1920s University York Medical School College through to the current developments (2003). The original of the Bynmor Jones library. designs were by Dr Upon their return, Dr Nicholas Groves Charles Franklyn. gave a lecture based upon his on-going research into Dr Charles A.H. Franklyn, revealing much about his early life, his professional career as a physician, his life- long interest in academical dress and also in heraldry. This session confirmed many of the preconceptions members had of Franklyn and the possibility that this biography may

Hull PhD & HYMS PhD eventually be published is something to be Reverse welcomed. The afternoon finished with thanks Members were given an from the Chairman to Gill, Peter, Nick and extensive opportunity to Richard, followed by refreshments and Hull BMus hood, look at, and indeed try departure. now MMus on, officers’ robes, and Richard Baker

4 A Query … and A Puzzle the ALCM gown ‘being of a London shape From time to time the Society receives with pale blue cord’ (in the singular), although enquiries from members of the public via the in fact for the last twenty years it has not been website. Here is one from a few months ago, provided with cords at all. which in fact added to our knowledge of So John Davnall’s enquiry has led to history. the discovery that the ALCM gown seems to John Davnall was working through his have been supplied in at least three versions so late father’s papers and came across a black- far as the number of cords on each sleeve is and-white photograph of his grandmother, concerned: one cord – the original Lilian Blanche Davnall (née Jones), in specification; three cords – the same gown academic dress. He believed it must have been being commonly used for the FLCM, LLCM taken between 1913 and 1918, before she was and ALCM; no cords – to make things even married. None of the family knew that she had easier for the modern supplier. In fact, an academic qualification; she had never Northam’s, the official robemakers, now spoken of it. He was curious to know whether rarely receive orders for LCM robes, but if she had a university degree and asked whether asked they would supply an unmodified basic we might be able to identify it from the photo. bachelor’s gown [b1] and a standard black I suggested he should send a scan. When he square with black tassel. The regulations did (see below), he mentioned that as a young given on the website of the University of West woman his grandmother had been a piano London, into which the LCM is now teacher. He wondered – correctly, as it turned incorporated, say nothing more specific than out – whether a music college might be ‘gown and cap’. The music colleges section involved. in Volume II of Shaw 3 has been amended A London BA-style gown [b4] with accordingly. light-coloured cords on the sleeves (no Alex Kerr buttons) and a black square cap with a light- coloured tassel, if the light colour was blue, would indicate the London College of Music. However, the three cords on each sleeve of the gown worn with no hood were a puzzle and so I consulted Nick Groves. According to Smith (1970), they would indicate a Fellow, who would wear a hood with the gown, whereas an Associate would wear a gown with one cord on each sleeve and no hood. Something similar is recorded in Northam’s MS workbook begun in 1895. Nick suspected that the number of cords might have changed over the years. This has been borne out by four more photos: two of a similar vintage to Lilian Jones’s and another dated 1952 that we discovered on the Web and then a fourth sent to the Society recently with an enquiry similar to John Davnall’s. Each shows an ALCM in a gown with three cords on each sleeve and no hood. Chris Bottley of Northam’s, whom Nick contacted, found that their archives recorded

5 A Truly Delectable Spring Conference! Nicholas gave us a detailed history of Colin Fleming has said in his Chair- the dress, dealing particularly man’s comments that he a particular fondness with the current attitude which has the present for the Spring Conference. This year certainly authorising the use showed the professional approach the Society of Cambridge dress for Lambeth degrees. The has to its craft. issue of unique Lambeth academical dress is We were treated to superb content from still in the balance. six very fine presenters: Alice, who spoke first, described the Jonathan Cooper: The Academical Dress of process by which a new university had gone the Ionian Academy, 1824–1864 about designing its academical dress and the Seamus Hargrave: The Cap and the Church issues involved, especially in relation to Sandra Wearden: A Brief History of manufacture. The matter of what the Lancaster’s Ceremonial Robes university felt important to symbolise in its Bruce Christianson: Portrait of a Time- AD was an issue to create many further Travelling Nobleman discussions. Petr Jan Vinš: Academic Dress in the Czech The day was very well attended, with Republic and former Czechoslovakia the usual post-Conference celebration at the Nicholas Groves: Lambeth degrees and the Melton Mowbray near the Chancery Lane Historical English Robes tubes stop. The celebration revealed that, once Alice Hynes: The Development of Robes in a again, a good time was had by all ... New University. Editor Jonathan - who ended up presenting as the final speaker - had been on a visit to the The University of Hong Kong Libraries Ionian Academy territory on Corfu with The University has written a letter of university students in his care to study the appreciation to Charles Ko, a Society member geology of the area (Ionian irony!). and Fellow, for his donation of two volumes Seamus spoke at very detailed length of the Transactions to the library. The letter is about the evolution of head dress emanating reproduced, here. from that used in the Church; a very fine examination of the development. Sandra offered us insights into the sequence of events leading from the Chancellor’s gown as designed for HR Princess Alexandra, the U of Lancaster’s first Chancellor, and that of the current Chancellor, illustrating the use of St Margaret damask and the differences in silk and cotton/viscose. Bruce took us through a fascinating examination of, amongst various gown elements, the importance of the buttons and clasps which have become the frogs and olivets of the modern-day officers’ gowns. Peter described the use of the beadle’s gown in the various universities, illustrated with graphic pictures of the variations chosen by many beadles to show off their roles in their institution’s ceremonial.

6 Copy for the next edition of Burgon SHAW 3 Volume 2 Notes is due to the editor no later The second volume of Shaw 3, Non-Degree- than 31st August, 2014. Send copy Awarding Bodies, is now available. with pictures to [email protected] or post to The Editor, Burgon Notes, 30 Smithfield Road, Darlington, Co. Durham, DL1 4DD Please note change of postal address.

SHOP OFFERS (see page 8) The prices include delivery by 2nd Class mail to a UK address. Please get in touch with Ian Johnson, The Burgon Society, 9 Pymore Road, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3XE, United Kingdom. You can pay either by enclosing a cheque for the appropriate sum in sterling (made payable to The Burgon Society) or by bank transfer to Account No. 71376233, Sort Code 40-01-24 (quoting your name in the reference field). If you are making a payment to the Society Copies are being snapped up! If you would from outside the UK, you can either: pay by like your personal copy of this excellent banker’s draft in UK pounds drawn on a supplementary volume to Shaw 3, please get corresponding UK bank; arrange for you in touch with Ian Johnson, The Burgon bank to make a payment directly to our bank Society, 9 Pymore Road, Bridport, Dorset, quoting IBAN GB37 MIDL 4001 2471 DT6 3XE, United Kingdom. 3762 33 and BIC MIDL GB2105N; or if you have a PayPal account, you can transfer your payment using our PayPal email address, [email protected]. EDITORIAL NOTE: * With regret, the Editor apologises for any omissions or errors in this edition of the Burgon Notes. Because of the rather hectic issues involved in moving from the West Midlands to the North East in mid-July, this edition has eventuated under considerable duress. The September edition of the Notes will be “up to scratch”.

7 A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY! The Burgon Society’s ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will be held on Saturday, 4th October, 2014 at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy Savoy Hill, London, WC2R 0DA

It is sad that we’re not returning to Charterhouse, but increasing room hire charges there have become prohibitive for a small charity like the Burgon Society. We are very fortunate to have secured The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy as the venue for our principal ceremonial event this year. In the meantime, you might care to visit the website http://royalchapelsavoy.org

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