In the company of Wellington

On St Patrick’s day we mark the anniversary of the arrival of the Wellington Archive at Southampton in 1983. Since then, the Special Collections has acquired a wide range of material that relates to this archive and we take the opportunity to explore some of these.

Part of Wellington Archive

The Wellington Archive [MS61] represents the political, military and official papers of Wellington, so collections that provide a more personal perspective on the Duke are always of interest. Christopher Collins entered Wellington’s service in 1824 and worked as his confidential servant for the remainder of the Duke’s life. Amongst the papers in this collection [MS69] are notes and letters from the Duke issuing instructions about ordering straps with buckles and boots, arrangements for mending razors, for preparations for his room at Walmer Castle and the cleaning and maintenance of uniforms.

Note from Wellington to Collins sending instructions for preparing his room at Walmer Castle, 13 September 1839 [MS69/2/15]: “have some fire in my room; some hot water for tea; and some boiling sea water for my feet”.

Collins kept a notebook listing the Duke’s diamonds, ceremonial collars, field marshal batons and coronation staves, 1842 [MS69/2/1] and amongst the objects in the collection are the blue ribbon of the Order of the Fleece and the red ribbon of the Order of the Bath which belonged to Wellington [MS69/4/11-12].

Red ribbon of the Order of the Bath [MS69/4/11]

Collins also kept notes on Wellington’s health [MS69/2/3] and the collection includes a number of recipes, such as one for “onion porage” to cure “spasms of the chest and stomach”, 1850, below.

Recipe for “onion porage” [MS69/4/19]

Three letters from Wellington to William Holmes, Tory Whip, in December 1838 [MS272/1 A9231/-3], likewise deal with the Duke’s health and in particular reports in the Morning Post about this. The Duke complained in a letter of 22 December 1838: “If people would only allow me to die and be damned I should not care what the Morning Post thinks proper to publish. But every devil who wants anything writes to enquire how I am.”

A small series of correspondence of Wellington, and Deputy Commissary General William Booth, which is a more recent acquisition, provide some insight into the management of Wellington’s estates at Waterloo, 1832-52 [MS414].

Illustration of the Duke of Wellington [MS351 A4170/9]

A number of military archive collections, including some of officers who served with Wellington, now join company with the Wellington Archive at Southampton. Papers of Sir John Malcolm, 1801-16, [MS308] provide important evidence for Wellington in India, at a formative stage of his career, in comparatively informal and personal correspondence with a friend and political colleague; it includes Wellington’s letters written in the field throughout the Assaye campaign. MS321 is composed of seven volumes of guardbooks of correspondence and papers of Lieutenant Colonel John Gurwood, who was editor of Wellington’s General Orders and Dispatches. The collection relates to Gurwood’s military career as well as his editorial work.

Letter from Gurwood to his mother in which he reports he led the “forlorn hope” at Ciudad Rodrigo, 20 January 1812 [MS321/7]

Sir Robert Hugh Kennedy served as Commissary General of the forces commanded by Wellington in the Iberian Peninsula, with Sir John Bisset serving in Kennedy’s stead in 1812, and their collection of letter books, accounts and other papers cover the period 1793-1830 [MS271], providing evidence of the work of this department during military campaigns over this period. An order book of the general orders of Sir Edward Barnes, Adjutant General of the army in Europe, 10 May 1815 – 18 January 1816, covers the period of the battle of Waterloo and the allied occupation of France [MS289]. And the diary of George Eastlake, recording a visit to northern Spain with Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin in September 1813 to discover Wellington’s requirements for naval assistance, provides details of Wellington’s headquarters at Lesaca as well as the army camp at Bidassoa [MS213].

A journal sent by General Francisco Copons y Navia to the Duke of Wellington details the operations undertaken by the Spanish First Army for the period 2-20 June 1813 in relation to those of General Sir John Murray. Murray had landed with a British force at Salou in Catalonia on 3 June and laid siege to Tarragona [MS253].

‘Journal du blocure de la place de Barcelonne’ [MS360/1]

Formerly part of a larger series of documents, Special Collections holds two booklets, signed by F.Mongeur, the Commissaire Ordonnateur for Barcelona, at Perpignan on 3 June 1814, that relate to the administration of Barcelona in 1814. The first, the ‘Journal du blocure de la place de Barcelonne’ has a daily record from 1 February to 3 June 1814 of the French forces [MS360/1]. The succeeding document in the series is a general report, in French, on the administration of the siege of Barcelona by the armée d’Aragon et de Catalogne, between 1 January and 28 May 1814, which gives details of the period of the evacuation of the place, as well as of the food and consumption of foodstuffs and expenditure on supplies during this period. There is a detailed analysis of the composition of the forces, the different corps of troops, companies and detachments making up the garrison at Barcelona [MS360/2].

Signature of Daniel O’Connell, 1815 [MS64/17/2]

Material relating to politics in the Wellington Archive is paralleled by that within a number of significant other collections at Southampton. The archive of the Parnell family, Barons Congleton [MS64] which contains extensive material relating to Irish politics. Amongst the papers of Sir John Parnell, second Baronet, is material for the Union of Ireland and Great Britain, whilst the papers of the first Baron Congleton include material about Roman Catholic emancipation.

Letter from Daniel O’Connell to Sir Henry Parnell, 13 June 1815, relating to Catholic emancipation [MS64/17/2]

The Broadlands Archives [MS62] also contain much on British and Irish politics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as papers of two nineteenth-century Prime Ministers in the form of Lords Palmerston and Melbourne. A collection of correspondence between John Wilson Croker and Palmerston for the period 1810-56 [MS273] includes much on political, military and official business. Papers of Wellington’s elder brother, Richard, Marquis Wellesley, include material relating to his tenure as ambassador in Spain, 1809, and as Foreign Secretary, 1809-12 [MS63].

Letter from Simon Bolivar to Lord Wellesley, 22 January 1811 [MS63/9/7]

Since its arrival in 1983, which also heralded the development of the Archives and Manuscripts as a service, the Wellington Archive has acted as an irresistible draw to other collections to join its company.

To find out more about Wellington, or research that has drawn on the collections held at Southampton, why not join us at this year’s Wellington Congress. Registration is open until the end of March.

2018 – Year in Review

As we move in to 2019 and new endeavours, we take a moment to reflect on some of the Special Collection activities of the previous year.

Exhibitions and events

2018 saw a programme of very different exhibitions hosted by Special Collections. The first exhibition of the year in the Special Collections Gallery and Level 4 Gallery was Print and Process, 1 March to 8 June. The exhibition, which revealed and identified a broad range of print processes, included prints from the Library’s Special Collections, from the University Art Collection and from Fine Art students at the Winchester School of Art.

Print and Process exhibition

In late June, we held a conference on Basque child refugees together with the Basque Children 37 Association and the University’s School of Modern Languages. In conjunction with this Special Collections played host to the exhibition In Search of the Basque children: From Bilbao to Southampton by the Salford based artist Claire Hignett. Inspired by the archives of the Basque child refugees, Claire Hignett’s exhibition used the properties of domestic textiles to explore memory and the items we keep as souvenirs of our lives.

Floor game exhibit from the Claire Hignett exhibition

The autumn exhibitions under the title The Great War Remembered formed part of the University’s Great War, Unknown War programme marking the centenary of the end of the First World War. My War, My Story in the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery drew on the Special Collections to present a range of stories from the First World War, including of the University War Hospital at the Highfield campus. We were delighted to have on loan as part of this exhibition the oil painting The Shadow of Cross of War, A Night Scene in University War Hospital, 1918 by William Lionel Wyllie. On show in the Level 4 Gallery were John Garfield: Armistice 1918 – The Cost a photographic journey through cemeteries and memorials of the Great War, and My Ancestor, Their Story which drew on family material from members of staff and students at the University.

In addition to the research sessions and visits for our own students – such as that mentioned in a blog by Dr Jonathan Conlin – we have an on-going series of events and visits for external visitors. These have included themed drop-in sessions on local history and nineteenth-century society and sessions showcasing British culture for Chinese teachers in June. Special Collections took part in Hands-on Humanities for the second year in a row in November 2018, running interactive events relating to handwriting and printing and creating a digital mosaic image from the items created on the day.

Writing and printing activities at Hands-on Humanities Day

We hosted a visit by the Hampshire Archives Trust, including a talk about the history of the University War Hospital and a private view to The Great War Remembered exhibitions, on Saturday 1 December. Special Collections also ran workshops on promoting collections as part of the Southern University Libraries Network training day on Tuesday 11 December.

Social media

As well as the on-going programme for the Special Collections blog, highlights of which are mentioned below, autumn saw the move from using Facebook to the new Twitter account@hartleyspecialc Features on Twitter so far have included tweets about unusual items in the collections and a glimpse behind the scenes for the national Explore Your Archive campaign and extracts of a student account of armistice 1918.

Sample of knitted spaghetti, one of the unusual items featured on Twitter for Explore Your Archive

The past year marked a range of anniversaries tied to the collections and blog features have included: the 35^th anniversary of the arrival of the Wellington Archive at Southampton on St Patrick’s day 1983; the coronation of Queen Victoria in June 1838; the anniversary of the birth of Isaac Watts, father of English hymnology and son of Southampton; and the 70^th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS. Some of the commemorative days featured have been International Women’s Day; Knit in Public Day; National Sporting Heritage Day; Dear Diary Day; Read a Book Day focusing on the dangerous art of reading for women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and British Polo Day.

During May we ran a series of blogs on resources relating to Ireland in Special Collections, such as the poem Farewell to Killarney. Heywood Sumner; the celebrated Hampshire naturalist Dr Canning Suffern; William Mogg, a Southampton-born sailor who was involved in Arctic exploration in the 1820s; Richard St Barbe Baker; Charlie Chaplin and, to mark the start of the World Cup, Lord Mountbatten and his association with football organisations, were some of the individuals to be the subject of blogs. The art of watercolours, cooking for court and countryside, China in the 1880s and botanical treasures of Stratfield Saye are some of the other subjects that have featured. University related blogs focused on the student societies – the Boat Club and the Scout and Guide Club – the University as a War Hospital and what the library accession registers showed about cooperation during the Second World War.

New collections

There was an increased volume of new archive material acquired by the Special Collections during the year. Of particular significance was the Honor Frost Archive, which provides a fascinating insight into the work of a pioneering figure in the field of maritime archaeology. We also were fortunate to acquire a small collection of material relating to Sir Denis Pack, one of the Duke of Wellington’s generals in the Peninsular war, and additional collections of papers of Basque child refugees.

Another significant new collection that arrived during 2018 was the Rollo Woods music collection. Rollo Woods (1925-2018) was a former Deputy Librarian at the University of Southampton, but also a leading expert on folk music who wrote several books on the subject. He was a founder member of the Madding Crowd, the Purbeck Village Quire and the West Gallery Music Association. In 2015 Rollo was awarded the gold badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society for a lifetime of work promoting the folk arts. His collection includes manuscripts of music that he acquired and his working papers relating to his research on West Gallery Music.

Pages from a Dorset carol book, 1803: part of the Rollo Woods music collection [MS442/1/2]

The most recent acquisition has been the papers of Gertrude Long. This collection contains a wealth of hitherto unseen images of the University War Hospital, complementing the papers of Fanny Street, another VAD who worked at the Hospital, and whose papers are another recent arrival.

Fanny Street (centre) with her fellow VADs [MS416/13/4]

Looking ahead to 2019

With the imminent arrival of further acquisitions, new cataloguing projects, a programme of exhibitions – opening with The Leonardo Link: Image-Making from Anatomy to Code on 18 February 2019 – the Wellington Congress 2019 on 12-13 April and Jewish Archives Month in June, it is already looking to be an active year. 2019 is also the centenary year of the move of the University to the Highfield campus and Special Collections will be contributing to celebrations for this. Look out for the first Highfield Campus 100 blog at the end of the month.

Rundown of the Sixth Wellington Congress

With our specially designed bicentenary delegate bags stuffed, and some early birds arriving in Southampton on Thursday afternoon, the scene was set for Wellington’s World, the sixth Congress on the life and times of Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington.  2015 is a special year: not only is it 20 years since the University hosted the first Wellington Congress but this year we mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.

In total we had around 80 delegates with us over the three days.  Many, naturally, from Southampton, but people travelled from all over the UK as well as from as far afield as America and Australia.  The Congress was situated mostly at the University’s Avenue Campus with residential delegates able to stay at the nearby Highfield Hall of Residence. His Grace the Duke of Wellington opened proceedings and attended sessions on the Friday afternoon.

His Grace the Duke of Wellington opening proceedings.

Delegates were offered a programme of 25 papers; on some days the itinerary was so full we were required to run parallel sessions.  Papers were wide ranging and focused on a variety of topics covering both Wellington’s military career and the battle of Waterloo as well as political, social and literary topics.

The Congress included four keynote papers.   Will Hay from Mississippi State University kicked off proceedings with his paper “Architects of victory: the partnership of Wellington, Castlereagh and Liverpool in winning Britain’s first great war” which discussed this unappreciated partnership between the military commanders and their political masters.

“Strategy, seapower and supplies: the British government’s resources in support of Wellington and the European allies, 1808-1815” was the topic addressed by Roger Knight of the Institute of Historical Research, London.  He considered the extent to which supply shortages were beyond the government’s control and how the resources of the Royal Navy were heavily stretched in keeping trade routes open.

Rory Muir and Charles Esdaile at a private view of the Wellington & Waterloo exhibition in the Hartley Library.

Rory Muir, who is the author of a new two volume biography of Wellington, showed the depth and breadth of his knowledge on the vast amount research that has been conducted on the Duke’s life and career through his historiographical review “The Vicissitudes of Fame: Wellington’s Posthumous Reputation, 1852-2015”.  He discussed how and why Wellington’s reputation as a military leader and politician has evolved in the years since his death.

The Congress closed with a paper from Chris Woolgar who used his extensive knowledge and experience as a professor of History and Archival Studies to give an in-depth analysis of the under-studied Waterloo dispatch, held at the British Library.  We hope to publish a selection of papers in our Wellington Studies series.

On the Friday evening local group The Madding Crowd performed a programme of music specially selected for the bicentenary. Lively, amusing and informative “With Wellington we’ll go” looked at the Duke of Wellington’s roles in Hampshire, at Stratfield Saye, as Lord Lieutenant, and as Freeman of Winchester. Music included hymns and psalms connected with events in his life, and glees and songs written or performed in his honour.  We were also treated to square and Morris dancing.

Dancing at the “With Wellington We’ll Go” concert on Friday 10 April. Photo: Alan Weeks

Five current and former Southampton History students entertained and educated us with their BBC Battles, Waterloo 200 presentation.  This was produced as a sequel The Battle of the Day: Salamanca 200, a collaborative production by seven undergraduates from Southampton University, which was created to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Salamanca in 2012.  This skit television programme was set in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo and included a BBC – that is, British Battles Corporation – news report, BattleGear, which compared  weaponry, in the manner of a certain car programme, and Battle of the Day where the possible future of the Allied campaign was assessed.

The delegates were treated to the first public viewing of the exhibition Wellington and Waterloo: “the tale is in every Englishman’s mouth”.  Original material from the Wellington Archive was showcased in the Special Collections Gallery and delegates were invited to browse and socialise with a glass of wine.

The catering was excellent throughout the three days with the highlight being the splendid 4-course conference dinner on Saturday night.

We are already making plans for the Seventh Wellington Congress which we anticipate will take place in 2018 or 2019 to commemorate the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle and the 250th anniversary of Wellington’s birth.

Waterloo 200: bicentenary events

The Sixth Wellington Congress takes place this week and is part of a number of activities and events organised by the University of Southampton to mark the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo, including:

Wellington and Waterloo: “the tale is every Englishman’s mouth”
13 April – 19 June, 13-24 July 2015

The Battle of Waterloo, fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, between allied forces and the French forces commanded by Napoleon, brought to a close more than two decades of conflict. Drawing heavily on the Wellington Archive at the University, this exhibition captures the final act of these wars from the perspective of the Duke of Wellington. It considers the diplomatic background to the military campaign of 1815, the battle itself, its aftermath and the occupation of France and the commemoration of both Wellington and Waterloo. It includes descriptions of the battle in the official reports of Wellington’s commanders, and a poignant letter from Wellington to Lord Aberdeen informing him of the death of his brother Sir Alexander Gordon, one of Wellington’s aides-de-camp. Amongst the items relating to the commemoration of Waterloo and Wellington are the catalogue of the Waterloo Museum, an establishment opened in the immediate aftermath of the battle, exhibiting memorabilia, and a nautilus shell, engraved by C.H.Wood, dating from the 1850s, which contains an image of Wellington on one side and St George on the other.

The Special Collections Gallery is situated on Level 4 of the Hartley Library, University of Southampton. The Library is on the east side of the University Road, on the University’s Highfield campus.

During exhibitions the Special Collections Gallery is open to the public Monday to Friday 1000 to 1600. Admission is free. Visitors may be asked for proof of identity by Library Reception staff.

MOOC: Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo
8 June 2015 (for three weeks)

Led by Chris Woolgar, Professor of History and Archival Studies, and Karen Robson, Head of Archives, at the University of Southampton, this free online course will use the Wellington Archive as its basis to discover more about one of the great events of the nineteenth century from the perspective of the Duke of Wellington.

For more information and to register go to:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/wellington-and-waterloo

Special Collections blog: the road to Waterloo

Regular readers of the blog will be familiar with our recent posts focusing on some of the key dates on the road to the battle of Waterloo. Using material from the Special Collections, including the Wellington Archive, future posts will also focus on the aftermath of the battle leading to the restoration of Louis XVIII.

To follow Wellington go to:
https://specialcollectionsuniversityofsouthampton.wordpress.com/category/road-to-waterloo/

Sixth Wellington Congress
10-12 April 2015

Although registration has now closed for the Congress, it is still possible to purchase tickets for “With Wellington we’ll go” a concert of music from the period by the Madding Crowd at the Turner Sims Concert Hall.

For information and to book go to:
https://www.turnersims.co.uk/events/with-wellington-well-go/

Sixth Wellington Congress 2015

18 June 2015 will mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, one of the most famous battles in the history of Europe. The battle not only ended the political and military career of Napoleon Bonaparte but also ended the series of wars which had raged across Europe, and other regions of the world, since the French Revolutionary wars of the 1790s.

For the 200th anniversary the University of Southampton will be holding its Sixth Wellington Congress 10-12 April 2015.

Papers will focus on a range of topics covering both Wellington’s military career and the battle of Waterloo as well as political, social and literary topics. Keynote speakers will be Rory Muir, Roger Knight, Will Hay and Chris Woolgar.

On the Friday evening there will be a concert of music from the period at the Turner Sims Concert Hall. Saturday will feature a BBC Battles, Waterloo 200 presentation, a private view of the exhibition Wellington and Waterloo: “The tale is in every Englishman’s mouth” in the Special Collections Gallery, Hartley Library, and a conference dinner.

The University’s Hartley Library is the home of the first Duke of Wellington’s archive, and the meeting will include opportunities to see the collection, as well as a programme of social activities. The event is organised in conjunction with the Southampton Centre for Nineteenth-Century Research.

For further details visit the Special Collections website at:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/exhibitions/Waterloo2015.html

The 26th Wellington Lecture and Cataloguing the lead up to Waterloo

The 26th Wellington Lecture, titled ‘The longest afternoon. The 400 men who decided the battle of Waterloo’, will take place on 22 October 2014 at 6pm at the Turner Sims, University of Southampton. The lecture will be delivered by Professor Brendan Simms, a professor in the History of International Relations and fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He is the author of Europe, shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize.

The Wellington Arch

Established in 1989 with an endowment from the Spanish Ambassador, the annual Wellington Lecture explores aspects of the life and times of the first Duke of Wellington, one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century.

Over the years the University of Southampton has welcomed a host of distinguished speakers to present the lecture. This year eminent academic and author Professor Brendan Simms will recount how 400-odd riflemen beat back wave after wave of French infantry, until finally forced to withdraw, but only after holding up Napoleon for so long that he lost the overall contest. Drawing on previously untapped eye-witness reports for accurate and vivid details of the course of the battle, Professor Simms will capture the grand choreography and pervasive chaos of Waterloo: the advances and retreats, the death and the maiming, the heroism and the cowardice.

The Road to Waterloo
Among the events set to mark the battle of Waterloo in 2015, the University will be hosting the Sixth Wellington Congress from 10 to 12 April. In preparation for the anniversary Lara Nelson, an archivist in the Special Collections Division, recently catalogued correspondence from the Wellington Papers focusing on the lead up to Waterloo.

“Containing approximately 100,000 items, the Wellington papers are a treasure trove for those completing research relating to the career of Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington. Of particular interest is the correspondence to and from the first Duke of Wellington in the run up to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. During the first half of this year I have been cataloguing the correspondence dating from February and April 1815.

The February correspondence consists of 26 letters, covering the first Duke of Wellington’s time at Vienna as British Plenipotentiary, which he began on 3 February 1815. They cover foreign affairs such as whether Vatteline should become a part of Switzerland, the Secret Alliance Treaty made between Britain, Austria and France, and the preparation of troops in Italy in response to Murat becoming King of Rome. An item of significant interest includes a letter from Sir Neil Campbell, who was responsible for accompanying Napoleon to Elba. Dating the 29th February 1815, the letter concerns a copy of a despatch he sent to Lord Burghersh (Envoy-extraordinary and Minister-plenipotentiary at Florence), which relates to the escape of Napoleon from Elba. He instructs the Duke of Wellington to consult the despatch so as not to lose time, and to transmit it to London for the examination of Lord Bathurst (Secretary of War and the Colonies).

The April correspondence includes 255 letters, which cover the escalation of events, and the planning and organisation of the military attack against Napoleon. The letters reflect discussions on how the invasion is to be a success, and decisions made on the composition of artillery, troops and weaponry. Fascinating items include a memorandum from Sir Hudson Lowe. It provides a list of questions to be addressed to deserters and strangers coming from the direction of the operations of the Enemy’s Army. The questions include “If a deserter: To what Corps belonging? Strength of the Corps? Commander of it?”

Together the correspondence provides a detailed picture of the international events leading up to the Battle of Waterloo. Historians can be taken through the various aspects that are involved in preparing a large military attack; from preparing artillery, troops and weaponry, to determining the logistics of security maintenance and the activities of the enemy.”

Welcome to our new blog

Find out about the collections, Special Collections news, events and exhibitions through the new blog.

The Special Collections holds in the region of 6.5 million manuscript items in 2.500 collections and 50,000 books. Amongst the manuscript collections are extensive military and political material for the late eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and one of the largest holdings of Jewish archives in western Europe. The University is the home of the archive of the first Duke of Wellington. The printed collections include early and rare books from the general collections of the Hartley Library and a number of named collections the most notable of these being the Parkes Library, the Cope Collection on Hampshire and Isle of Wight and the Perkins Agricultural Library.

Starting from March 2014, this blog will host weekly extracts of writings on war and warfare drawn from the manuscript collections. Ranging from items on the Maratha wars to the Second World War, the extracts will reflect opinions both from the battle front and from those at home.

The Special Collections Gallery exhibition When “the days of conquest are passed”: reflections on war and warfare which will run from 13 October to 12 December 2014. As part of the events set to mark the battle of Waterloo in 2015, the University will be hosting the Sixth Wellington Congress 9-12 April, with a related exhibition opening in the Special Collections Gallery at the same time.