The ABC of the BSI & the Florin Society 2021 Edition By Alexian Gregory, BSI (“The Grimpen Postmaster”) ASH (“The Coptic Monasteries of Syria and Egypt”), The Fourth Garrideb (“Gray Archways and Mullioned Windows And All the Venerable Wreckage of a Feudal Keep”) [email protected] Here’s my alphabetical listing of all BSI investitures ordered by the first word in them. Thus “Beryl Stapleton” and “Beryl Coronet” are both listed under “B”. When there is a title affixed to the name, the name is listed under the title; thus “Lord Bellinger” is under “L,” and “Sir James Damery” is under “S.” The exceptions to this rule are Investitures beginning with “A” “An” “That” “The” “Those” “Mr.” “Miss” or “Mrs.” etc. These will be listed under the next word. Thus “Saunders, Mrs.” On the other hand Investitures beginning with “Monsieur” or “Mme.” are listed under these titles. Where the same Investitures have been re-issued, they are given in the chronological order of bestowal. “Inspector Baynes” and “Wilson Hargreave” have been re-issued with minor variants. Here I bowed to history and have abandoned strict alphabetization in favor of chronological order. In searching for a particular investiture, thought must be given to all canonical possibilities. Thus one will find neither “Maiwand” nor “Battle of Maiwand, The.” Rather, it is listed under “Fatal Battle of Maiwand, The.” Similarly one will find “Baron Maupertuis” under “Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis, The”; while “Charlie Peace” is listed under “My Old Friend Charlie Peace.” Then we have both “Cardinal Tosca” and “Sudden Death of Cardinal Tosca, The.” The longest Investiture (48 characters) is “The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant”. The shortest ones are “Billy,” “Cooee.,” and “V.V. 341. The Investiture with the most unusual punctuation is “Smack! Smack! Smack!” It’s also unique as it consists of only a repeated word. Only two Investitures contain numerals: “17 King Edward Street,” and “V.V. 341.” Two investitures share the distinction of being composed of only non-English words. They are “Baritsu” and “Englisher Hof.” One investiture consists of a sound that isn’t a proper word at all, “Cooee.” The most popular characters who have provided investiture names are those beginning with “Sir” or “Doctor” which have provided 15 investitures each. Then we have 12 “Colonels,” 10 “Inspectors,” and 9 “Johns.” The most issued investitures are A Case of Identity, The Gloria Scott, and The Final Problem which have each been awarded five times. In second place we have The Abbey Grange, and The Three Gables which have each been given four times Strangely two Investitures are totally non-canonical. They are “The Field Bazaar” and “The Curious Incident of Sherlock Holmes in Japan.” And strictly speaking, “St. Bartholomew’s Hospital” and “Chemical Laboratory of St. Barts” are not canonical investitures as only “Bart’s” and “The Chemical Laboratory” are mentioned in Study in Scarlet. Likewise, “The Coptic Patriarchs” should be “The Two Coptic Patriarchs” to be strictly canonical. Two investitures are simultaneously held by living BSIs. They are “The Hammerford Will Case” and “Vamberry, The Wine Merchant.” The latter investiture has a rather interesting history. “Vamberry, The Wine Merchant” was first issued in 1954 to Tony Montag. In 1956 it was issued to Dean W. Dickensheet. So at that point it was held simultaneously by two living BSIs, Montag & Dickensheet. On March 15, 1983 Dean W. Dickensheet passed beyond the Reichenbach Falls, and thus the investiture was held by only one living BSI, Tony Montag. In January 1985 this same investiture was issued to Arthur Liebman. Since then it has been held yet again by two living BSIs, Montag & Leibman. It appears that “The Old Russian Woman” was simultaneously held by Anatole Chujoy and Lenore Glen Offord until the death of Anatole Chujoy in 1969 Four men have changed their investitures. George Armstrong gave up “Wiggins” so that Tom Stix could use that title as the head of the BSI. George Armstrong then took the investiture of “John o‘ Groats.” When Tom Stix moved to Norwood, NJ, his investiture changed from “The Case of Bert Stevens” to “The Norwood Builder.” Gerald Wachs went from “Godfrey Emsworth” to “Sir James Saunders.” Phillip Shreffler went from “The Noble Bachelor” to “Jefferson Hope.” . The Florin Society The first list presented below is of all those married couples in which both spouses have been invested in the BSI. Since each couple has two shillings, I have chosen to call them the Florins---the two-shilling coin of the Victorian Era. This list is alphabetical by surname. The name of the spouse who received the investiture earlier is given first. Next to each name is the year the shilling was awarded. In cases where one or both have died, I have indicated this by an asterisk next to the name(s). This same use of the asterisk is found in the second list, the ABC of the BSI. Two couples hold a special distinction in that both spouses were invested in the same year. They are David Stuart Davies & Kathryn White and also Jonathan & Elaine McCafferty. In the case of the latter couple the investitures are even more unusual. Elaine was invested at the BSI Dinner in NYC, and Jonathan was invested in London eight days later at the SHSL Dinner. On the other hand, the Andersons had the longest gap of any spouses between their investitures---40 years! A hearty tip of the deerstalker to all these couples who by their hard work have earned their membership in the Florin Society! These two lists will be updated as needed. Both lists are free to all, but they are only sent by e-mail. Any mistakes or omissions in either the ABC of the BSI or in the Florin Society should be brought to my attention. The Florin Society Anderson, Poul* 1960 & Anderson, Karen* 2000 Bond, Scott 1983 & Rose-Bond, Sherry 1992 Davies, David Stuart 1995 & White, Kathryn 1995 Diamond, Susan* Z. 1998 & Devitt, Allan 2009 Dickensheet, Dean* 1956 & Dickensheet, Shirley* 1993 Herzog, Evelyn 1991 & Baesch, John 1998 Joffee, Andrew 1989 & Montague, Sarah 2010 Johnson, Roger 1991 & Upton, Jean 2000 Kegley, Jerry 2006 & Kegley, Chrys 2015 Kitts, Richard 1997 & Kitts, Francine 2004 Kobayashi, Tsukasa* 1989 & Higashiyama, Akane; 2012 Lewis, Lou 1998 & Lewis, Candace 2018 McCafferty, Elaine 2007 & McCafferty, Jonathan 2007 Niver, Harold 1979 & Niver, Theodora 1997 Rice, Susan* 1991 & Fromkin, T. Michelle 1994 Roden, Christopher 2002 & Roden, Barbara 2005 Rosenblatt, Albert 1974 & Rosenblatt, Julia Carlson 1991 Rusch, Barbara 2009 & Zaldin, Donny 2012 Shreffler, Philip 1974 & Rich, Mary Ellen 1992 Smedegaard, Paul* 1977 & Smedegaard, Margaret 1997 Stetak, Tom* 1990 & Stetak, Ruthann 1994 Stix, Thomas* L. Jr. 1961 & Stix, Dorothy 1997 Swift, Wayne* 1978 & Swift, Francine* 1994 Van der Flaes, Edwin 1984 & Van der Flaes, Maureen* Green 1992 Vizoskie, Ben 2000 & Vizoskie, Susan 2003 Whelan, Michael F., 1974 & Bradley, Mary Ann 2012 The ABC of the BSI A Abbey Grange, The * Oursler, Fulton; 1950 Abbey Grange, The * Lang, Milton C.; 1953 Abbey Grange, The * Oursler, Will; 1956 Abbey Grange, The Klinger, Leslie S.; 1999; Abe Slaney * Nieminski, John; 1969 Abe Slaney *Levin, Alfred A.; 1993 Abe Slaney Cunningham, Philip; 2013 Abergavenny Murders, The * Hart, Thomas; 1960 Abergavenny Murders, The *Ross, Billy; 1977 Actor and a Rare One, An * Shull, Richard B.; 1986 Actor and a Rare One, An Armstrong, Curtis; 2006 Addleton Tragedy, The * Robb, Alexander M.; 1961 Addleton Tragedy, The * Addlestone, Alan; 1985; Adolph Meyer Meyer, Charles A.; 1988 Agony Column, The Betzner, Ray; 1987; Alexander Hamilton Garrideb Vizoskie, Ben; 2000 Alexander Holder *Goodrich, William D.; 1977; Aloysius Doran, Esq., of San Francisco, Cal.* Berner, William A.; 1983; Altamont *Hoffmann, Frank A.; 1979 Aluminium Crutch, The * Hogan, John V. L.; 1954 Aluminium Crutch, The *Gillies, Joseph; 1962; Amateur Mendicant Society, The *Schulz, Theodore G.; 1961 Ancient British Barrow, The * Hartman, Harry; 1968 Ancient British Barrow, The Utechin, Nicholas; 1975 Anstruther Brody, Howard; 1981 “Anthropological Journal, The” Pollock, Donald K.; 1990 (Resigned) “Anthropological Journal, The” De La Cova, Carlina; 2020 Antonio Christenson, Edwin L.; 2003; Arcadia Mixture, The * Page, Frederick C.; 1990 Archie Stamford, The Forger * Kreuzberger, George; 1956; Arnsworth Castle Business, The *Schutz, Robert H.; 1961 Art in the Blood MacBird, Bonnie; 2017 Arthur Cadogan West McIntyre, Peter; 2014 Arthur Charpentier *Utecht, Thomas D.; 1994 Arthur H. Staunton, The Forger *Lebowitz, Mo; 1970 Athelney Jones Fusco, Andrew G.; 1972; Attenta, Pericolo, Lopez, Michele; 2019 B Bank of France, The Cagnat, Jean-Pierre; 1993 Bannister Kennedy, Bruce; 1968 Bar of Gold, The Renkwitz, Art 2005 Baritsu *Kobayashi, Tsukasa; 1989 Baritsu Higashiyama, Akane; 2012 Barker, My Hated Rival * Fish, Robert L.; 1971 Barker, My Hated Rival * Silverman, Milton A.; 1982 Baron Adelbert Gruner Higurashi, Masamichi; 1998 Baron Dowson * Germeshausen, Alvin F.; 1980 Baron Dowson *Ruyle, John; 1983 Baron Gruner, The Austrian * Krejci-Graf, Karl; 1967 Barque “Lone Star,” The Beeson, William B.; 1983 Barrymore * Fairlie, Matthew; 1971 Barrymore McCafferty, Jonathan 2007 Bartholomew Sholto Nadel, William; 1991 Battered Tin Dispatch-Box, The * Duval, James O.; 1984 Battered Tin Dispatch-Box, The Kitts, Richard J.; 1997 Beacons of the Future Carlisle, Shannon; 2018 Beeswing *Rice, Susan; 1991 Bert Stevens *Galerstein, David; 1972 Beryl Coronet, The *Abramson,