THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHJEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1966-67 President Profe1;sor Jack Simmons, M.A., F.R.HIST.S., F.R.S.L. * President-Emeritus Colin D. B. Ellis, Esq., C.B.E., M.C., M.A., F .S.A, * Vice-Presidents Kathleen, Duchess of Rutland The Hon. Lady Martin The Right Reverend ,The Lord Bishop of Leicester, D.D. The High Sheriff of Leicestershire The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor of Leicester The Very Reverend H. A. Jones, B.SC. Victor Pochin, Esq., C.B.E., M.A., D.L., J.P. A. Bernard Clarke,. Esq. Levi Fox, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Professor W. G. Hoskins, M.A., M.SC., PH.D. Miss K. M. Kenyon, C.B.E., M.A., D.LITT., F.B.A., F.S.A.. Mrs. F. E. Skillington * Officers Hon. Secretaries: James Crompton, Esq., M.A., B.LITT., F.R.HIST.S., F.S.A, (Minutes) Miss Mollie P. Rippin, B.A. (General) Miss Winifred A. G. Herrington (Excursions) Hon. Treasurer: C. L. Wykes, Esq., F.C.A. Hon. Auditor : Lieut.-Col. G. L. Aspell, T.D., D.L., F.C.A. Hon. Editor: James Crompton, Esq., M.A., B.LITT., F.R.HIST.S., F.S.A. Hon. Librarian: F. S. Cheney, Esq. * Trustees of the Leicestershire Archceological and Historical Society J. E. Brownlow, Esq. Colin D. B. Ellis, Esq., C.B.E., M.C., M.A., F.S.A.• J. N. Pickard, Esq., J.P. J. R. Webster, Esq. C. L . Wykes, Esq., F.C.A. * Trustees of the Leicestershire Archceological Research Fund 0 . S. Bennett, Esq., B.A. Colin D. B. Ellis, Esq., C.B.E., M.C., M.A., F.S.A .• Anthony Herbert, Esq., A.R.I.B.A. Miss M. P. Rippin, B.A. Professor J. Simmons, M.A., F.R.HIST.S., F.R.S.L. c. L. Wykes, Esq., F.C.A. vii LEICESTERSHIRE ARCH£0LOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Representatives on Other Bodies Council for British Arch<£ology: F. S. Cheney, Esq. Professor w. G. Hoskins, M.A., M.SC., PH.D. County Records Committee: Mrs. E. M. Dickson Rural Community Council: J. A. Daniell, Esq., A.M.A. * Committee Mrs. F. E. Skillington (Chairman) The Hon. Secretaries (Minutes, General, Excursions) The Hon. Treasurer The Hon. Editor (Minutes Secretary) The Hon. Librarian Mrs. E. Bartram J.E. Brownlow, Esq. J. A. Culley, Esq. (elected 4 May 1966) J. A. Daniell, Esq., A.M.A. Mrs. E. M. Dickson Dr. P. M. G. Eden, M.A., PH.D., F.S,A, (elected 4 May 1966) A. E. Grimbley, Esq. Professor W. G. Hoskins, M.A., M.SC., PH.D. Anthony Herbert, Esq., A.R.I.B.A. R. J. B. Keene, Esq., DIP.ARCH.(LEIC.), A.R.I.B.A. G. H. Martin, Esq., M.A., D.PHIL., F.R.HIST.S, A. D. McWhirr, Esq., B.SC. Mrs. W. A. North J. F. L. Norwood, Esq., B.A. L. A. Parker, Esq., B.A., PH.D. 1 D. Parsons, Esq., B.A. (elected 1 February 1967) Professor J. Simmons, M.A., F.R.HIST.S., F.R.S.L. J. R. Webster, Esq. * Lectures and Excursions Sub-Committee W. Bailes, Esq. J, Crompton, Esq., M.A., B.LITT., F.R.HIST.S., F.S.A. (Secretary) A. E. Grimbley, Esq. Miss W. A. G. Herrington Miss M. P. Rippin, B.A. Field-Work and Research Sub-Committee A. D. McWhirr, Esq., B.SC. (Secretary) (resigned December 1966) G. H. Green, Esq. (died November 196S) G . M. P. King, Esq., B.SC. * Social Sub-Committee Mrs. E. M. Dickson (Secretary) Mrs. W. A. North Miss M. P. Rippin, B.A. viii LEICESTERSHIRE ARCH£0LOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Historic Buildings Advisory Panel D. A. Blakesley, Esq., A.R.I.B.A. J.E. Brownlow, Esq. H. Collinson, Esq., A.R.C.A., F.S.A.E. James Crompton, Esq., M.A., B. LITT., F.R.HIST.S., F.S.A. J. A. Daniell, Esq., A.M.A. P. M. G. Eden, Esq., M.A., PH.D., F.S.A. A. Herbert, Esq., A.R.I.B.A. Professor W. G. Hoskins, M.A., M.Sc., PH.D. Professor C. J. Hughes, M.A., B.PHIL. R. J. B. Keene, Esq., DIP.ARCH. (LEIC.), A.R.I.B.A. G. M. P. King, Esq., B.Sc. G. H. Martin, Esq., M.A., D.PHIL., F.R.HIST.S, P. C. Shelbourn, Esq. Professor J. Simmons, M.A., F.R.HIST.s., F.R.S.L. Mrs. F. E. Skillington V. R. Webster, Esq., M.A. MELTON MOWBRAY AND DISTRICT BRANCH Officers Chairman: H. L. Copson, Esq. Vice-Chairman: P. E. Hunt, Esq. Hon. Secretary: Mrs. E. Bartram Hon. Treasurer: K. C. Wright, Esq. Press Officer: Mrs. H. A. D. Walkden Committee W. Bailes, Esq. J.E. Brownlow, Esq. Mrs. E. B. Cullen G. M. P. King, Esq., B.SC. Reverend R. T. H. Pearse, A.K.c. P. A. Stevens, Esq., M.A., F.M.A. Representative on Society's Committee Mrs. E. Bartram * Representative on Lectures and Excursions Sub-Committee W. Bailes, Esq. ix THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHJEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 112th ANNUAL REPORT, 1966-67 Six General Meetings of the Society were held, at which the following papers were read: 1966 30 September Annual General Meeting in the Bennett Building, University of Leicester. Professor W. G . Hoskins, M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D. : "The Leicestershire Landscape". 14 October Professor V. H. Galbraith, D.Litt., F.B.A.: "1066 and All That". Norman Conquest Commemoration Lecture, given in the Bennett Building. 25 November J. M. Crook, Esq., M.A., D.Phil.: "The Greek Revival in English Architecture". 1967 27 January G. H. Martin, Esq., M.A., D.Phil., F.R.Hist.S.: "Victorian Water­ ing Places". 24 February J. N. L. Myres, Esq., M .A., D.Phil., F.B.A., F.S.A.: "Anglo-Saxon Pottery". 10 March James Crompton Esq., M.A., B.Litt., F.R.Hist.S., F .S.A.: "Archi­ tecture in Renaissance Italy". Meetings By kind pernuss10n of the University the Annual General Meeting and the Norman Conquest Commemoration lecture were held in the Bennett Building. Pro£essor Galbraith's lecture was a memorable occasion. The Lecture theatre was crowded to capacity, and all enjoyed both the pungent wit and urbane scholarship of the former Regius Professor in the University of Oxford. Professor Galbraith consented to allow the Society to print his lecture and copies are available for sale, at 3s. each. Its title <is ro66 and All That. Attendances at all lectures this year have been decidedly better. The Annual General Meeting saw the election of Professor Jack Simmons to the office of President of the Society in place of Mr. C. D. B. Ellis who had resigned in December 1965. Mr. J. E. Brownlow, in proposing his election, voiced the general feeling of every­ one when he spoke of the great debt owed by the Society to its new President. In his inaugural speech Professor Simmons paid an eloquent tribute on behalf of the Society to Mr. C. D. B. Ellis in the following words: "The Society is now III years old; but the office of President, in the form it assumes today, was established only 50 years ago. Before 1916 it was the Society's practice to have one or two Patrons and a large number of Presidents. All of them were members of the Committee, which was thus, in theory, a very large body indeed. In 1882-83, for example, I note that its ordinary membership-if I may use that term-was 20; but to that number were added, ex officio, all Rural Deans and all professional architects who were members of the Society, two Patrons and no less than 25 Presidents, comprising most of the nobility and gentry of Leicestershire. One cannot help wondering how it was determined if more than one of them happened to be present, who was in fact to preside. It was fortunate indeed that the Society's X II2TH ANNUAL REPORT, 1966-67 proceedings showed an unfailing decorum-indeed, if I am to be honest, I must say that in the 1880s they were something more than decorous, they were torpid: otherwise there might have been unseemly struggles among those whiskered nobles and gentlemen over who should occupy the chair-or perhaps should not occupy it-at any meeting." "In 1916, however, all this wa.s swept away and a new constitution adopted, under which the Presidents became Vice-Presidents and a single President was elected. The first was Bishop Woods of Peterborough, in whose diocese Leicester then lay. His two successors were noblemen: the Marquess of Granby (later the 9th Duke of Rutland) and the ;nth Earl Ferrers, an architect and antiquary. In 1937 a decisive breach was made with the past in the election of Professor Hamilton Thompson. For he and those who followed him, Sir Robert Martin and Mr. Colin Ellis, had all taken, before they were appointed to the Presidency, a very active part in the work of the Society and in the recording and preservation of evidences of past history in Leicester and Leicestershire. "Mr. Ellis has made a notable contribution to that work, and a highly individual one. His books include the admirable Historical Guide to the city, which he pro­ duced in collaboration with another distinguished member of this Society, Mr. S. H. Skillington, for the Leicester meeting of the British Association in 1933. History in Leicester, which appeared in 1948, is a study original in plan, observant, crisp, and clear.