Native American women – July 2011

Posted on 30 July, 2011 by nspeccoll

Illustration of 'Chippeway Squaw & Child' — Illustration of ‘Chippeway Squaw & Child’ from M’Kenney, T.L. History of the Indian tribes of North America, with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred and twenty portraits from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington (Philadelphia: Edward C. Biddle, 1837)
**(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll 970.1 MAC Elephant folio)**

Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785-1859) served as Superintendent of Indian Trade (1816-1822) and as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the newly-formed Bureau of Indian Affairs (1824-1830). The 1820s were a time when the Eastern Native American tribes faced a government policy which forced them to abandon traditional lands and move westwards. McKenney thought that the Native Americans would benefit from complying with the U.S. Government and was an advocate of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson’s American Indian ‘civilization program’. Jefferson believed that it was the environments in which Native American tribes lived which rendered them ‘savage’ and that removal west, into European-style towns, would see them progress to become ‘full Americans’. Nevertheless, Jefferson and McKenney shared the opinion that Native Americans were intellectual and moral equals to white men and defended Native American cultures.

McKenney was instrumental in bringing Native American delegations to Washington D.C. where they negotiated re-settlement terms and treaties. Keen to capture something of a vanishing way of life, he commissioned Charles Bird King to paint the portraits of Native American leaders and those paintings were housed in the War Department’s museum.

Later, Henry Inman was asked by McKenney to reproduce the paintings for publication in a three-volume portfolio: History of the Indian Tribes of North America. The portfolio took more than twelve years to complete, featured hand-coloured lithography and was expensive to both produce and purchase. The gallery of original portraits was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1858 but was destroyed by fire on 24th January, 1865.

Whilst the portfolio features the portraits of several well-known Native American leaders, a small number of female subjects are included in the study. Selected images are accompanied here with extracts from the text.

Chippeway squaw and child

Extract;

“The life of the Indian woman, under the most favourable circumstances, is one of continual labour and unmitigated hardship. Trained to servitude from infancy, and condemned to the performance of the most menial offices, they are the servants rather than the companions of man. Upon them, therefore, fall with peculiar severity, all those vicissitudes and accidents of savage life which impose hardships and privations beyond those that ordinarily attend the state of barbarism”
“The woman who, during the season of plenty, was worn down with the labour of following the hunter to the chase, carrying the game and dressing the food, now [during periods when resources are scarce] becomes the purveyor of the family, roaming the forest in search of berries, burrowing in the earth for roots, or ensnaring the lesser animals. While engaged in these various duties, she discharges also those of the mother, and travels over the icy plains with her infant at her back.
Iroquois and Sioux tribes, by the late Eighteenth Century they controlled Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio but lost most of their land when white settlers forced them onto reservations in the Nineteenth Century. Despite the name Hiawatha deriving from the Iroquois, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, The song of Hiawatha (1855), contains place names and stories originating from the Chippeway”.
“Women (and children) were expected to perform such tasks as foraging for food and firewood, selecting plants to be used as thatch, farming, preparing feasts, making dyes and needlework (the moccasins worn by both sexes were often dyed red, yellow, blue and green and the winter months were passed adding quill work and moose hair designs)”.
(vol. 1)

The Chippeway widow

The portrait of a Chippeway widow is a representation rather than the portrait of a known individual.

Illustration of 'A Chippeway Widow' — Illustration of ‘A Chippeway Widow’ from M’Kenney, T.L. History of the Indian tribes of North America, with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred and twenty portraits from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington (Philadelphia: Edward C. Biddle, 1837)
**(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll 970.1 MAC Elephant folio)**

Extract;

“A Chippeway widow, on the death of her husband, selects from his scanty wardrobe, a complete suit of his best clothes, which she makes up into a bundle. This is placed near her while at work, and is carried wherever she goes. She calls it her husband, treats it with the respect which would be due to a living lord and master, and would be considered as disgracing herself and treating his memory with disrespect, if she was to part with it even for a moment . . . . The Chippeway widow carries her “husband” during the season of mourning, which is one year, and during that time cannot marry without gross impropriety. If she does not marry at the close of the year, she usually continues to carry the badge of her widowhood until she is relieved of it by the nearest relatives of her deceased husband, who may at any time, whenthey conceive she has mourned long enough, call upon her, and take away the bundle, after which she is at liberty to contract a second marriage“.
(vol. 2)

Pocahontas

Pocahontas (c.1595-1617) was the daughter of a Native American chief in Virginia. When English settler, Captain John Smith, described his capture by a Native American hunting party, he retrospectively credited Pocahontas as having saved him. The omission of her from his earliest accounts has made historians question the veracity of the tale but it has been established that she at least befriended Smith and visited the Jamestown colony, bringing food when it was most needed and playing with the children.Fiction romanticises the relationship between Pocahontas and Smith but there is no evidence that they were lovers. Captured by the English in 1613, she was taught about Christianity and baptised as Rebecca.

“Though born and reared in savage life, [Pocahontas] was a creature of exquisite loveliness and refinement. The gracefulness of her person, the gentleness of her nature – her benevolence, her courage, her noble self-devotion in the discharge of duty, elevate this lovely woman to an equality with the most illustrious and most attractive of her sex; and yet those winning graces and noble qualities were not the most remarkable features of her character, which was even more distinguished by the wonderful tact, and the delicate sense of propriety, which marked all the scenes of her brief, but eventful history.”
(Vol. 3)

Vestiges of old Newcastle and Gateshead – June 2011

Posted on 30 June, 2011 by nspeccoll

Illustration of The Weavers or Carliol Tower and The Mechanics Institute, 1878 from from Boyle, J.R. *Vestiges of old Newcastle and Gateshead*. 2 vols.
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Andrew Reid; London: Elliot Stock, 1890)
**(Rare Books Collection, RB 942.82 BOY Quarto**)

In 1769 James Granger’s Biographical History of England was published with deliberately blank pages for the purchaser to customise. Thus grangerised entered rare books terminology. Extra-illustrated is a more user-friendly term which has come to be commonly used today. Typically, book owners have customised copies by adding engraved portraits and topographical prints but sometimes autograph letters, drawings, watercolours and other documents have been pasted in and this is exactly what W.B. Bond has done with his copy of J.R. Boyle’s Vestiges of old Newcastle and Gateshead (1890).

The publication is not as scarce as some other titles held in the Philip Robinson Library’s Special Collections: twelve other institutions are listed on COPAC as holding copies, from the National Library of Scotland, to the British Library and Trinity College Dublin. What make our copy unique are the two hundred and thirty engravings, watercolours and autographs which have been added. These include: autograph letters from historians and antiquaries John Hodgson, John Collingwood Bruce, W.H. Longstaffe, and Richard Welford; engraved portraits of King Charles II and Oliver Cromwell; a bookplate taken from a copy of Il Decamerone (1727), the title page of which had borne the inscription of musician Charles Avison; engravings of local views and landmarks, such as Alnwick Castle, Sunderland harbour, and Jesmond cemetery; and original watercolours depicting the Holy Jesus Hospital, an old house in Low Friar Street, almshouses in Westgate Street, Thomas Bewick’s workshop at St. Nicholas’ church yard, and more.

Two local watercolours have been chosen to illustrate this ‘treasure’: The Weavers or Carliol Tower and The Mechanics Institute, 1878 and The Temporary Bridge over the Tyne – August 17th 1875, both signed by W.B. Bond.

The Weavers or Carliol Tower and The Mechanics Institute, 1878 (above):
Newcastle was fortified in the Thirteenth Century and Carliol Tower, named after the De Carleiol family, was one of the seventeen towers which were features of the town wall. The discovery, by workmen in 1824, of a cannonball is evidence that it came under fire when the Scots stormed Newcastle in 1644. Less than twenty years after the violence of the English Revolution, or Civil War, the Weaver’s Company appropriated the tower as a meeting house. The tower was repaired and enlarged in 1821 but, like many of the town’s defensive towers, was demolished in the late Nineteenth Century. The foundation stone for The Mechanic’s Institute which adjoined Carliol Tower, on New Bridge Street, had been laid on 19th April, 1865. From 1866, it housed a library and was a venue for lectures on industrial developments and for delivering engineering classes. In 1880, The Mechanics’ Institute became part of the new City Library.

The Temporary Bridge over the Tyne – August 17th 1875 (below):
Bond has not specified the location of this temporary bridge over the Tyne. However, a temporary bridge existed whilst the Swing Bridge was being constructed and it is possible that this is what Bond painted, looking across the river towards Gateshead and St. Mary’s Church. The Roman Pons Aelius had first spanned the Tyne but it had been replaced by a mediaeval stone bridge. When this was destroyed by the flood of 1771, a new stone bridge was built in its place. Increased shipping resulted in that bridge being removed in 1866 and it wasn’t until 1876 that the Swing Bridge was opened. Thus, it is possible that the watercolour depicts the temporary wooden bridge at time when it had almost run the course of its usefulness and with the construction of the Swing Bridge glimpsed immediately behind it.

According to a manuscript annotation on a front endpaper, Bond inserted the additional engravings, watercolours and autographs whilst in San Sebastiano, Venice, 1913 and two items which had been addressed to him there are tipped in at the end of the second volume.

Illustration of The Temporary Bridge over the Tyne – August 17th 1875 from Boyle, J.R. *Vestiges of old Newcastle and Gateshead*. 2 vols.
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Andrew Reid; London: Elliot Stock, 1890)
**(Rare Books Collection, RB 942.82 BOY Quarto**)

Page from Opera chirurgica by John Arderne (c.1380) – May 2011

Posted on 30 May, 2011 by nspeccoll

Page from Opera chirurgica showing marginalia illustrations and illuminated lettering — Page from *Opera chirurgica* **(Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection, Pybus, Pyb. C.v.5)**

Pybus Collection: Pyb C.v.5

John Arderne (1307-1380) practised as a surgeon in Newark and London and earned himself great renown particularly for his medical works, written in Latin despite his lack of a university education. Arderne was typical of medical practitioners in the Fourteenth Century – embracing medical advances, pioneering new methods and referencing the likes of Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna yet harking back to the Anglo-Saxons’ astrological approaches to medicine.

Page from Opera chirurgica showing marginalia illustrations — Page from *Opera chirurgica* showing marginalia illustrations **(Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection, Pybus, Pyb. C.v.5)**

Arderne’s manuscripts were commonly illustrated, both to show techniques and remedies, and to aid the reader in navigating a potentially confusing text. This manuscript, written in Latin but including some passages in French near the beginning, has been illustrated with pictures of operations, instruments, plants, blazons, &c.

The manuscript was formerly part of the private collection of Professor Pybus (1883-1975) who donated his history of medicine books, engravings, portraits, busts, bleeding bowls and research notes to the University Library in 1965. The manuscript now bears his presentation bookplate but there is further evidence of provenance: it has been inscribed by W. Harrysson, Silvester Rowlestone, Sarah Ridall, Mary [Riddall?], Richard Pearson, Mster [sic] Rutter and Christopher Wainman.

Roughly contemporaneous with Arderne’ manuscripts, is Chaucer’ Canterbury Tales, the Prologue of which contains the following depiction of a physician grounded in astronomy, led by ancient classical texts, dressed in taffeta and silk, with a penchant for gold:

With us ther was a Doctour of Phisike;
In all this world ne was ther non him like
To speke of phisike and of surgerie,
For he was grounded in astronomie.
He kept his patient a ful gret del
In houres by his magike naturel:
Wel coude he fortunen the ascendant
Of his images for his patient.
He knew the cause of every maladie,
Were it of cold, or hote, or moist, or drie,
And wher engendred, and of what humour:
He was a veray parfite practisour.
The cause yknowe, and of his harm the rote,
Anon he gave to the sike man his bote.
Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries
To send him dragges and his lettuaries,
For eche of hem made other for to winne:
His friendship n’s not newe to beginner.
Wewl knew he the old Esculapius,
And Dioscorides and eke Rufus,
Old Hippocras, Hali, and Gallien,
Serapion, Rafis, and Avicen,
Averrois, Damascene, and Constantin,
Bernard, and Gatisden, and Gilbertin.
Of his diete mesurable was he,
For it was of no superfluitee,
But of gret nourishing, and digestible:
His studie was but little on the Bible.
In sanguine and in perse he clad was alle
Lined with taffeta and with sendalle.
And yet he was but esy of dispence;
He kepte that he wan in the pestilence;
For gold in phisike is a cordial,
Therfore he loved gold in special.
Extract from The Poetical Works of Geoff. Chaucer …
(Edinburgh: At the Apollo Press by the Martins, 1782) Vol. 1.
(White (Robert) Collection W821.17 CHA)

The Northumberland Handicrafts Guild – April 2011

Posted on 30 April, 2011 by nspeccoll

Front cover of the Annual Report of the Northumberland Handicrafts Guild, 1918-1919 — Front cover of the *Annual Report of the Northumberland Handicrafts Guild, 1918-1919*
**(Northumberland Handicrafts Guild Archive, NHG 3/11)**

The Northumberland Handicrafts Guild was formed in June 1900 with the aim of promoting the study and practice of handicrafts, such as embroidery, wood work, basket work, leather work and weaving, in the County of Northumberland.

The Guild’s formation had its origins in the Arts and Crafts Movement which began in England in the 1880s in response to the growth of industrialisation and mass production by machines. The Movement called for a revival of real craftsmanship and traditional craft techniques, and embraced nostalgia for the mediaeval age which was seen as the golden age of creativity and freedom. Leading figures in the Movement believed in a social and utopian society where artists and craftsmen were viewed as equals. One of the founding fathers of the Movement was William Morris who famously advised, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”.

A key feature of the Movement was the establishment throughout the country of societies and guilds to bring together artists and craftsmen, and to help publicise the movement through meetings, classes, lectures, exhibitions and craft demonstrations. The use of the word “guild” harked back to the mediaeval trade guilds which protected and promoted the common interests of craftsmen. The Northumberland Handicrafts Guild was one such example, and other examples included the Guild and School of Handicraft in the East End of London, the Century Guild and John Ruskin’s Guild of St George.

The decorative motif carried on the front cover of the Northumberland Handicrafts Guild’s Annual Reports, as depicted here, typified the artistic and graphic styles which were associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, while the Guild’s motto proclaimed, “by hammer and hand all arts do stand”.

The Guild arranged teaching classes and lectures in most areas of the county, new classes in its first year including needlework and embroidery, led by Lady Anne Bowes-Lyon at Haydon Bridge and by Mrs H. Pease at Cramlington. Lectures in the first year included the Reverend S. Gates on “Lace Working and Embroidery” at Haydon Bridge, Messrs Hatton and Williams on “Handicrafts in relation to home life” at Allendale and Mr G. Blount on “Democratic Art” in Newcastle.

There were strong links between the Guild and the Art Department of the Durham College of Science at Newcastle upon Tyne, known from 1904 as Armstrong College (and ultimately to evolve into the present day Newcastle University). The Guild’s first Vice President was Charles W. Mitchell, Chairman of the College’s Art Committee and a member of the College Council, while its first Honorary Secretary was the historian Thomas Edward Hodgkin, also a member of the College Council. Other Armstrong College figures such as Richard George Hatton, for many years Professor in Fine Art, Ella Pease and Miss Noble held office or served on the Guild’s committee. Craft work produced during the Guild’s classes was exhibited annually in the College and entries were judged by a team of experts, with awards given for individual work.

The Guild was also the first organisation of its kind to teach handicrafts to wounded soldiers during the First World War. Classes were held in Armstrong College, part of which was being used as a ward of the First Northern Military Hospital, and doctors testified to the psychological benefits which patients derived from the work.

Tossing the Pancake – March 2011

Posted on 30 March, 2011 by nspeccoll

Illustration from March 'Tossing the Pancake' — Illustration from March ‘Tossing the Pancake’ from *The Comic Almanack: an ephemeris in jest and earnest, containing merry tales, humorous poetry, quips and oddities*. By Thackeray, Albert Smith, Gilbert A. Beckett, the Brothers Mayhew, with many hundred illustrations by George Cruikshank and other artists. 1st [-2nd] series, 1835[-1853].
**(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll 827.89 COM)**

This year, Shrove Tuesday falls on 8th March. Christians were expected to go to confession in the week before the penitential period of Lent and Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Ash Wednesday (i.e. the first day of Lent). To shrive (the verb from which the past participle shrove is derived) means to obtain absolution but Shrove Tuesday can be thought of as a day of high spirits before entering a more sombre mood.

Of course, many people will know Shrove Tuesday by its more colloquial name of Pancake Day and in this guise, it is thought of more as a day of feasting on those ingredients which are prohibited during Lent, a time of fasting. In fact, the names given to the day in other countries often translate as Fat Tuesday.

From the Twelfth Century, Shrove Tuesday celebrations often incorporated games of ‘mob football’ but the Highway Act of 1835 banned the playing of football on public highways and the tradition died out in all but a few towns, including Alnwick (Northumberland) and Sedgefield (Co. Durham). Pancake races have proved to be a more enduring tradition. Since the mid-Fifteenth Century, entrants have run towards a finishing line, tossing their pancakes into the air as they go, and catching them in frying pans. The tradition is said to have originated with a housewife in Olney, Buckinghamshire who was so engrossed in making pancakes that she lost track of time and, on the peal of the church bells calling people to service, she rushed out of the house still carrying her pancake and pan.

This cartoon is from The Comic Almanack by the English artist, caricaturist and book illustrator, George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank was renowned for his humorous drawings, satirical political cartoons and social caricatures of English life. He is considered to have been one of the most important British graphic artists of the Nineteenth Century and was undoubtedly one of the most popular cartoonists of his day.

The Comic Almanack, published annually from 1835, contained amusing stories, poems, jokes and cartoons. The illustrations were chiefly Cruikshank’s and he engaged others such as the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray to supply the stories. The Almanack was a hugely successful publication, although competition from Punch’s Almanack, which began in December 1844, eventually led to its demise.

Lost Castles – January 2011

Posted on 30 January, 2011 by nspeccoll

The East view of Widdrington Castle in Northumberland **(Local Illustrations, C432**

Northumberland is full of ruined castles that draw tourists year after year to imagine how magnificent they must have once looked. But, it is also filled with sites where castles once stood, that today there remains little or no trace of. One such site is Widdrington in Northumberland, not far from Druridge Bay. This is where Widdrington Castle stood from the 14th century until its demolition in the 19th century.

The first records of a structure at this site describe a medieval fortified manor house and castle. In 1341 Gerard Widdrington was granted a licence to fortify the house. The engraving shows a substantial tower with turrets at the corners, similar to the castle at nearby Belsay. By 1592 the castle had three parts: the original tower, a great hall and a northern tower. In the late 17th century wings were added to the towers, and a walled garden was laid out. However, by 1720 and with new owners, it was in a ruinous condition. Sometime after 1772 the castle was demolished and rebuilt, but the new building burnt down before it was finished. After this a new Gothic castle was built, but this too fell to ruin and was demolished in 1862. The dilapidated state in which the castle found itself many times over the years probably owed much to the fact that it was rarely the main residence of the families who owned it, and lack of use caused it to fall into disrepair.

Widdrington Castle’s claim to fame is that King James VI of Scotland and I of England was believed to have stayed at the castle in 1603. Sir Robert Carey, the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, who married the widow of Henry Widdrington in 1593, rested here during his journey from London to Edinburgh to inform James of Elizabeth’s death. On James’ journey south to claim the throne the men are said to have stayed at Widdrington.

The Widdrington family themselves were Catholic and Royalist and therefore strong supporters of the Stuart cause. The first baron was a Royalist army officer, the second baron served in the army of Charles II, and during the revolution of 1688 the third baron was dismissed as governor of Berwick and Holy Island and imprisoned. His three sons, William, Charles and Peregrine, all became active Jacobites.

The fourth baron, William Widdrington (1677/8-1743) was educated at Morpeth grammar school and in Paris where he became familiar with the exiled Stuart court. He took a leading role in planning the north’s contribution to the Jacobite rising of 1715, providing one of the five troops in the Northumbrian force. However, he was confined to his bed with gout during the Battle of Preston, and when it was clear that the situation was hopeless he advised surrender. After the failed rising he was tried for high treason. In his defence he argued that he had not been aware of the plan and had only joined to keep face with his friends. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, but with only hours to spare he was reprieved and released from the Tower. The Widdrington estates were confiscated by the Crown and sold to Sir George Revel. The estate then passed via marriage to Sir George Warren and then on to Lord Vernon. An attainder was passed on the family titles although Widdrington’s eldest son, Henry Francis, was commonly called Lord Widdrington. Following the death of Henry in 1774 the Widdrington family appears to have become extinct.

The site of Widdrington Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. All that remains of the protected site today is the Castle mound and a row of lime trees, known as The Apostles. The site lies close to The Country Barn in Widdrington, which uses the castle as its logo.

Royal Wedding Treasure Special – Royal Wedding 2011

Posted on 30 January, 2011 by nspeccoll

Postcard photograph of Mr and Mrs Charles Trevelyan, c. 1904 **(Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive, CPT 1/3/4)**

To celebrate the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday 29th April 2011 we bring you a special ‘wedding’ treasure!

The postcard photograph above shows Mr. and Mrs. Charles Trevelyan with the Trevelyan family crest, which bears the motto ‘Time tests faith’. Charles Philips Trevelyan (1870 – 1958) married Mary Bell (1881 – 1966), the half sister of Gertrude Bell, in 1904. Special Collections holds Charles’ papers, the Liberal MP who famously defected to Labour in 1918. It is unknown what this postcard was used for. It dates from after their wedding in 1904 as they are identified as ‘Mr and Mrs Trevelyan’. It may have been part of a thank you note to guests for their wedding presents or simply a portrait of the newly-married couple that they sent out to family and friends.

Special Collections also holds the papers of Mary Trevelyan (who was known as Molly), including her diaries for the years 1892 – 1917. The page below is taken from her diary for 1904 and is among a series of entries regarding their wedding day.

Newspaper clippings from Molly Trevelyan's diary, listing the presents that were gifted to Charles and Molly Trevelyan on their wedding day — Newspaper clippings from Molly Trevelyan’s diary, listing the presents that were gifted to Charles and Molly Trevelyan on their wedding day, 1904 **(Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive, CPT 2/1/9)**

They include her handwritten account of the wedding day with cuttings from the press and a complete list of gifts received by the bride and bridegroom.

This page shows one of three cut-out from the newspaper listing all the wedding presents they received and who they were from.

The fact that this was published in the press shows that the public appetite for information about the rich and famous has always been strong!

Gifts included a grand piano from the mother of the bride; a fur coat from the father of the bride to the groom; numerous collections of books and poems, including The Life of Gladstone from Mr and Mrs Gladstone; some letters written by Dickens; tea sets; writing desks; two grandfather clocks; hundreds of items of silverware; and more candlesticks and inkstands than anyone could ever find occasion to use!

Wedding presents have been given since ancient times. They have normally been practical items for the new couple’s home. However, in some cultures guests would have been expected to contribute to the wedding banquet as a thank you for their invitation! The idea of the wedding trousseau or ‘bottom-drawer’ put together by the bride’s family has its origins in the dowry. Dowry is an ancient custom, which has been practised around the world throughout history. This has often been money but can also include a selection of goods paid for by the bride’s family to furnish the newlywed’s home. As many newlywed couples did not have much money, the bride’s mother would put away household goods, including homemade items often in a bottom drawer, starting before their daughters had even met their future husband! The idea was to create a collection of everything a young woman setting-up her first home would need. Some ostentatious Victorians even introduced a ‘trousseau tea’ in an effort to out-do each other, where wealthy families would display trunk loads of linens, china and clothes they had put together for their daughters!

Nowadays, as many couples live together before marriage, wedding gift lists are more likely to include luxury items rather than practical ones and many couples choose not to have traditional gifts at all, instead asking guests to contribute money to a honeymoon, they could perhaps not otherwise afford. Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton have asked guests to donate money to charity rather than buy them wedding presents. This is likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of pounds being donated to the twenty-six, not very well-known, charities that the couple have chosen. Of course there are some advantages – they are less likely to end up with things they do not need. The Queen and Prince Philip received five hundred cases of tinned pineapple and ingredients for their wedding cake from the Australian people when they married in 1947. However, William and Kate they are still likely to receive numerous presents from the general public. Prince Charles and Princess Diana received thousands of presents from well-wishers around the world after their marriage at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981, including a roomful of antique furniture from Canada and twenty silver platters inscribed with their wedding date from Australia. A selection of the presents was placed on display at St. James’s Palace and some items were later distributed to charity. After all there are only so many toasters and kettles that a Royal couple needs!

Skating and Sliding – December 2010

Posted on 30 December, 2010 by nspeccoll

Front cover of Skating and Sliding — Front cover of Wood, J.G. *Skating and Sliding*
(London: Routledge, 1872) **(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 796.91 WOO)**

In the mid Nineteenth Century, increasing literacy levels and the industrialisation of printing and book-making combined to create a demand for cheap publications. This demand was well-met by ‘yellowbacks’: low-priced octavos with strawboard boards covered with yellow paper and often block-printed with pictures. Yellowbacks were ubiquitous in the 1870s and 1880s and George Routledge dominated the field. His publishing house started to experiment with non-fiction and with educational handbooks and thus the series Routledge’s Sixpenny Handbooks was born.

Illustration Skating from Skating and Sliding — Illustration of ‘Skating’ from Wood, J.G. *Skating and Sliding*
(London: Routledge, 1872) **(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 796.91 WOO)**

Skating and Sliding by the Reverend J.G. Wood and other writers is an example of the series which also treated such subjects as cricket, manly exercises, fireworks, swimming and conjuring. This particular manual takes learners through the history of skating, putting skates on, how to start from the inside edge and progresses to various skating figures, such as the Dutch Roll and the Figure of Three. It quotes three maxims attributed to renowned skater Robert Ferguson: “Throw fear to the dogs”, “Put on your skates securely” and “Keep your balance”!

Extract from with a description of 'the Dutch Roll' from Skating and Sliding — Extract from Wood, J.G. *Skating and Sliding*
(London: Routledge, 1872) **(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 796.91 WOO)**

From 1607 to 1814 a frost fair was held on the River Thames and into the early- Nineteenth Century rivers and canals froze sufficiently to support skating. The Skating Club was founded in London, 1830 and in 1876, the first artificial ice-rink (the Glaciarium) opened in Chelsea.

John George Wood (1827-1889), having worked in the anatomical museum, Oxford and having made a name for himself delivering illustrated lectures on zoology, was best known as a writer on natural history. However, he also wrote books on gymnastics and other sports and even edited The Boys Own Magazine.

Lord Armstrong – Lord Armstrong 2010

Posted on 30 November, 2010 by nspeccoll

Photograph of Lord Armstrong from **University Archives**

26th November 2010 marks the bicentenary of the birth of Lord Armstrong. William George Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Cragside, was a scientist, engineer, inventor and businessman. His achievements brought him world renown and fixed Newcastle and the North East of England firmly on the science and engineering map.

This photograph depicts Lord Armstrong standing at the doorway to Cragside, his country home in Rothbury, Northumberland, in c. 1897 when Armstrong was in his old age. In the photograph Armstrong appears to be content, satisfied and self-assured, if a little tired, and a glance at the story of his life and achievements explains why.

Armstrong was born on 26th November 1810 at 9 Pleasant Row, Shieldfield, in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was the only son of William Armstrong, a corn merchant and local politician. Armstrong Senior wanted his son to enter the legal profession and, upon leaving school, Armstrong took articles under the wealthy Newcastle solicitor and family friend Armorer Donkin, becoming a partner in the firm in 1835.

Armstrong was a good solicitor, but his passion lay elsewhere. From an early age he had possessed a fascination with all things scientific and mechanical. This continued into adulthood and a turning point in his life came in 1835 when, during a fishing trip to Dentdale in Yorkshire, his attention was captured by what he recognised as an inefficient use of water in an over-shot water-wheel. Over the next ten years, Armstrong devoted his spare time to developing the effective use of water as a motive power, and his tireless work culminated in his demonstration, to great applause, of a model hydraulic crane at the Literary and Philosophical Institute in Newcastle in December, 1845.

During this early period of his career Armstrong’s imagination was also captured by an aspect of science which was to become one of his greatest loves: electricity. When, in 1840, workers at Cramlington Colliery in Northumberland began to experience electric shocks from steam escaping at high-pressure from a boiler, Armstrong applied his capabilities to establishing and describing the cause of the phenomenon, later named The Armstrong Effect in his honour. He published a series of papers on the effect and developed a spark-inducing hydroelectric machine which he exhibited at the Literary and Philosophical Society. His discovery led to him being elected a fellow of the Royal Society in May 1846.

In the mean time, Armstrong’s hydraulic cranes had impressed many and were in such high demand that, in 1847, he established Messrs W.G. Armstrong & Co., in partnership with Armorer Donkin and others, to manufacture machinery using his hydraulic technology. He finally resigned from his solicitor’s job shortly afterwards. In the same year the partners founded an engineering works at Elswick on the banks of the River Tyne, just to the west of Newcastle. The Elswick Works were to go from strength to strength and evolve through several incarnations over the decades, Armstrong’s reputation as an engineer and a businessman growing alongside them.

In the 1850s Armstrong moved into the field of armament production when he developed a new type of field gun in response to the high loss of life experienced during the Crimean War, and was commissioned to supply the War Office with Armstrong Guns, receiving a knighthood for his services. Later, after the government ended its contract with the Elswick Works, Armstrong went on to sell armaments, including naval guns, indiscriminately to foreign countries. Although this seemed controversial to some, Armstrong felt justified in doing so.

Armstrong became a nationally and internationally renowned figure and, as he amassed great wealth from his engineering successes, he became a great benefactor to his native Newcastle. His gifts included Jesmond Dene, the landscaped park which he gave for the benefit of the town’s inhabitants, and substantial financial support towards the foundation of a College of Physical Science, ultimately to evolve into Newcastle University.

He was awarded many honours for his achievements, including election to the Presidency of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1863. During his inaugural address as President at the Association’s meeting in Newcastle in the same year, he spoke about the issue of finite coal reserves and the potential for harnessing solar power, adding “visionary” to his many other accolades.

In the same year, Armstrong purchased land near Rothbury and began the construction of his country residence Cragside, where he would increasingly spend his time as he retired from the day-to-day running of the business. These later years of Armstrong’s life saw his love-affair with electricity re-surface when, in keeping with his instinct for innovation, Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power and the first to be lit by Joseph Swan’s newly-invented incandescent light. He experimented further with electricity and in 1897 published the volume Electric Movement in Air and Water which contained a set of striking photographic images of electric discharges taken by the Rothbury-based photographer John Worsnop, who also took the photograph of Armstrong shown here.

Armstrong was raised to the peerage as Baron Armstrong of Cragside in June 1887. When he died in 1900, he left an enduring legacy and was remembered as having been a towering figure of the Victorian era.

Front cover design for Beyond the border (1898) – November 2010

Posted on 30 November, 2010 by nspeccoll

Front cover of Campbell, W.D. *Beyond the border*. With 167 illustrations by Helen Stratton (Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1898)
**(19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 823.89 CAM)**

Yes, it was most decidedly Black Duncan the smith who was at the bottom of the whole affair. He was the author of the remark that set everybody gaping, and made such a tremendous fuss in the town. He it was who let fall the fatal joke, when his wife brought in the dish of broiled haddock that morning at breakfast; and though it is not the best taste to laugh at one’s own pleasantries, he, I must confess, did so. It was beyond measure funny, and not a bite or sup would he taste till he had had his laugh out.
Thus begins Walter Douglas Campbell’s Beyond the border (1898). It appears to be a children’s story, with a king and queen, a talking cat and a hag who lives in a tower with her daughter who has a “flat, yellow face, speckled like a trout”.

Helen Stratton (fl. 1892-1925) provided 167 black and white illustrations to accompany the text. A British illustrator who was particularly associated with children’s books and fairy tales, she was sometimes influenced by the Glasgow School of Art and art nouveau movement; at other times was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting.

The book itself has a green Victorian cloth binding, with a front cover design depicting a witch dropping frogs into a cauldron, and highly-stylised cats on the spine. It was presented to J. Patten MacDougall from Innis Chonain in 1899. Innis Chonain is the Scottish Island on which Douglas Walter Campbell, an amateur architect, had built a large home.