1854

[Oxford University Act 1854.] Autograph Memorandum by Rev. Dr Richard Harington, Principal of Brasenose College, headed 'Oaths imposed by College Statutes and Declarations against change in Statutes'.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford [Oxford University Act 1854; Report of Royal Commission, 1852; Edward Hawkins, Provost of Oriel College]
Publication details: 
[Oxford University'At a meeting of the Commission Committee held on March 5. 1853.'
£220.00

In 1850 Lord John Russell had set up a Royal Commission to enquire 'Into the State, Discipline, Studies, and Revenues of the University and Colleges of Oxford'. The Law Magazine, in its issue of August-November 1852, praised the Commission's report as 'most valuable' and 'meritorious', noting among the obstacles to its completion 'the resolute and dogged refusal of information on the part of many, intimately connected with the University', including Harington's college Brasenose. The Spectator discussed the report on 29 May 1852, and reproduced all 47 recommendations on 5 June 1852.

[Oxford University Act, 1854.] Autograph Draft Memorandum by Rev. Dr Richard Harington, Principal of Brasenose College, stating his opposition to 'Oxford University Commission. | Proposals for remodelling the Constitution of the University'.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford [Oxford University Act 1854; Report of Royal Commission, 1852; Hebdomadal Council]
Publication details: 
[Brasenose College, University of Oxford] Undated, but written in response to the Royal Commission Report of 1852.
£850.00

A significant document by an Oxford college head, responding negatively to the 1852 Report of the Royal Commission appointed in 1850 by Lord John Russell to enquire 'Into the State, Discipline, Studies, and Revenues of the University and Colleges of Oxford'.

[Oxford University Act, 1854.] Autograph Draft Memorandum on 'Oxford University Commission' by Rev. Dr Richard Harington , Principal of Brasenose College, stating his opposition to 'those who propose to strip the favoured classes of the privileges'.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford [Oxford University Act 1854; Report of Royal Commission, 1852; Hebdomadal Council]
Publication details: 
[Brasenose College, University of Oxford] 8 April 1852.
£850.00

A highly-interesting document, written by a college head on the verge of the reforms resulting from the passing of the Oxford University Act of 1854 and setting up of the Hebdomadal Council, in which Harington states - in detail, at length and with great emphasis - his opposition to 'those who propose to strip the favoured classes of the privileges which Founders of Colleges have thought proper to confer on them', arguing that this will not 'necessarily ensure the election of the most distinguished candidates'.

[Oxford University Act 1854.] Autograph Memorandum by Rev. Dr Richard Harington, Principal of Brasenose College, headed 'Oaths imposed by College Statutes and Declarations against change in Statutes'.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Richard Harington (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford [Oxford University Act 1854; Report of Royal Commission, 1852; Edward Hawkins, Provost of Oriel College]
Publication details: 
[Oxford University'At a meeting of the Commission Committee held on March 5. 1853.'
£220.00

In 1850 Lord John Russell had set up a Royal Commission to enquire 'Into the State, Discipline, Studies, and Revenues of the University and Colleges of Oxford'. The Law Magazine, in its issue of August-November 1852, praised the Commission's report as 'most valuable' and 'meritorious', noting among the obstacles to its completion 'the resolute and dogged refusal of information on the part of many, intimately connected with the University', including Harington's college Brasenose. The Spectator discussed the report on 29 May 1852, and reproduced all 47 recommendations on 5 June 1852.

[ Mutiny on HMS Winchester, 1854, and initiation ceremony for blue jackets. ] Proof of the start of an article, including a diary of 'The Winchester's Last Commission' and extract from letter by Sir Charles Fellowes.

Author: 
Anon. [ HMS Winchester and Admiral Sir Charles Fellowes (1823-1886), Commander in Chief, Channel Fleet; mutiny ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but after Fellowes' death in 1886.
£180.00

This item appears to be a proof of the first eight pages of an unpublished 'account of the mutiny' on board HMS Winchester in the South China Seas in 1854 (while on its way to take part in the Second Burmese War, in which the Winchester's captain Granville Gower Loch (1813-1853) would be killed). The mutiny, which was quashed by Rear Admiral Fleetwood Pellew (1789-1861), is described by the author of the present item as the ship's 'skeleton in the cupboard'. The text breaks off before the mutiny takes place, with the Winchester having left Point de Galle, and on its way to Trincomalee.

[ Royal Commission on Cathedrals, 1853 ] Signed Copy of long Autograph Letter from Rev. Dr Richard Harington, Principal of Brasenose College, responding to circular letter signed by Richard Jones, Secretary. With printed 'copy of the Commission'.

Author: 
Rev. Richard Harington D.D. (1800-1853), Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford; Rev. Richard Jones, Secretary of the Royal Commission on Cathedrals in Whitehall
Publication details: 
All three items from 1853. Harington's letter from Brasenose College, Oxford. Jones's circular letter from Cathedral Commission, 1 Parliament Street, Whitehall, London.
£950.00

Three items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Harington's 28-page letter is a significant assessment, by a senior member of the university, of the situation in the period immediately preceding the Oxford University Act of 1854. ONE: Signed Autograph Copy of Letter from 'Richd Harington' to 'The Rev. R. Jones'. Brasenose College, Oxford. 28pp., foolscap 8vo. On seven bifoliums of grey paper. Deletions and emendations throughout.

[ Edward Paget and Queen Victoria. ] Finely bound and illuminated volume, compiled by 'E. P.', containing Autograph Letter Signed ('Victoria R'), frank ('The Queen') and other material by Queen Victoria, with upwards of 1000 royal and noble monograms

Author: 
Queen Victoria; Edward Paget; Victorian royal and noble monograms, ciphers and bookplates
Publication details: 
[ London (Buckingham Palace), Windsor and the Isle of Wight (Osborne House).] 1853 and 1854.
£650.00

156pp., 12mo. In fine binding of black morocco, tooled in gilt on the boards and spine, one of the five compartments of which contains the word 'CYPHERS', with the date '1854' at the foot of the spine. With all edges gilt and dentelles, and a metal cast of the monogram 'EP' placed at centre of the front board. Hand-drawn and coloured Paget family bookplate on front pastedown. In fair condition, aged and worn, in worn binding.

[ Northcote-Trevelyan Report, 1854. ] Six items: long letter from Herries to Northcote in defence of the civil service; Northcote's reply; Herries' rejoinder; letter from Frederick Goulburn to Herries; two printed papers by George Arbuthnot.

Author: 
Northcote-Trevelyan Report, 1854 [ Sir Charles John Herries; Sir Stafford Northcote [ Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh ]; George Arbuthnot; Frederick Goulburn; Civil Service reform ]
Publication details: 
The six items from 1854. Northcote's letter from the Pynes, Exeter; Herries from the 'I[nland]. R[evenue].' and 114 Piccadilly; Goulburn from the Board of Customs [ London ]; and one of Arbuthnot's papers 'Printed at the Foreign Office'.
£1,650.00

Lord Hennessy has characterised the subject of these items, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854, as 'the greatest single governing gift of the nineteenth to the twentieth century: a politically disinterested and permanent Civil Service with core values of integrity, propriety, objectivity and appointment on merit, able to transfer its loyalty and expertise from one elected government to the next'.

[ The Potato Blight in Scotland, 1854. ] Anonymous manuscript paper: 'The Cause and Cure of the Potato disease &c.', including 'Memorandum of Facts relative to Pestilence and the Potato disease in the Parish of Campbeltown'.

Author: 
[ The Kintyre Agricultural Society; Cambeltown, Argyll and Bute; the Potato Blight in Scotland, 1854 ]
Publication details: 
'To The Members of The Kintyre Agricultural Society'. Section headed: 'Campbeltown 2nd Oct 1854'.
£800.00

121pp., folio, with each page on a separate leaf. The author's own pagination skips p.20, but the text is complete. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn watermarked laid paper. Manuscript emendations (corrections, deletions and additions) throughout, and also occasional directions to a printer in the margin (for example, p.18: 'Indent an M piece') suggesting contemporary publication. (The Otago Witness in 1891 reproduced under the same title a few short extracts from the present item - starting at p.24 of it.

[Printed item.] Tunbridge Wells Classical and Commercial School. Examination, June, 1854.

Author: 
[Rev. William Earle (1817-1892), Head Master, Tunbridge Wells Classical and Commercial School; J. Colbran, printer; St John's College, Cambridge]
Publication details: 
Tunbridge Wells: J. Colbran, Printer, High Street. 1854.
£80.00

[32]pp., 8vo. Stitched and unbound. Internally in good condition, on aged paper, in covers spotted with ink, with slight staining at head of first few leaves, and one corner dogeared. Nicely printed, with lists of meritorious boys, a full-page transcript of a letter from Rev. B. Whitelock to Earl, and examination papers in Greek, Latin, French, geography, algebra and other fields. Scarce: no copies on COPAC or WorldCat, although a similar item for 1852 is held by the British Library. In 1855 it was reported that the school counted 109 scholars, of whom 72 were boarders.

Syndicate content