DOWNSIDE ABBEY Archives and Library

19th January is the Feast Day of St Wulstan, the patron Saint of vegetarians and dieters. This is due to his being distracted at Mass one day by the smell of a cooking goose, after which event he swore never to eat meat again. This moment is depicted in a stained glass window here at Downside Abbey, shown below.

St Wulstan or Wulfstan, was Bishop of Worcester and was born c. 1008. He was the last pre-Norman Conquest Bishop to hold his position. He studied at monasteries in Evesham and Peterborough and was persuaded to join the priesthood, being ordained in 1038 and joining a community of Benedictine monks at Worcester.  

Whilst Prior of Worcester he restored its fortunes, and William I noted his dedication to pastoral care of his diocese, which was probably the reason he kept his position after 1066. St Wulstan was also a fierce opponent to the slave trade and helped to stop the transport of slaves from Bristol to Viking Ireland.

Professor David Knowles, one time monk of Downside wrote of St Wulstan, 'He is indeed a most attractive figure, too little known to his countrymen...; the last, and certainly one of the greatest, of the early bishops of pure English blood and culture.' St Wulstan died in 1095 and was canonized in 1203 by Pope Innocent III.

Found in the archives is this order from the Privy Council of King Charles II dated 3rd June 1674.

The document orders that (Catholic) 'priests as can be found shall be speedily sent away and transported into the parts beyond the seas;' At the time, it was still illegal to be a Catholic priest in Britain.

The document goes on to state 'And that such discoveryes may be the better encouraged, and more effectually pursued, his Majesty hath given order to the Lord High Treasurer of England to cause speedy payment to be made unto every person who shall make discovery of any Preist or Jesuite of the sume of five pounds for every Preist, or Jesuite, so discovered who shall thereupon be apprehended and sent up in order to be transported beyond the seas.'

The order is an exceptional insight into the feelings of the Privy Council in the late 17th century, and how fear of Catholicism was still rife at that time. Indeed, in 1679, just four years after this document was created, it was revealed that Charles' brother, James, was a Catholic, which sparked the Exclusion Crisis. Of course, on the death of Charles II in 1685, James succeeded to the throne until he was deposed in 1688, being the last Catholic king of England.

This document is signed by many members of the council, including Lord Finch the Chancellor, Earl of Northampton, Earl of Newport, Earl of Anglesey, Lord Bridgwater, Earl Craven and Earl Sunderland, John Seymour the 4th Duke of Somerset, Lord Maynard and Earl Carbery as well as the clerk to the King, Sir Edward Walker.

This week one of our volunteers is working to sort out a vast section of our photographic archives, as yet untouched. The Downside photographic collections form a large part of the archives here, and are one of the most significant portions as well. Thousands of images, the earliest from 1857 and rumoured to have been taken by Henry Fox Talbot, highlight the unique history of our site.

With this week's work we are aiming to be able to start making a catalogue of our images, and to understand the depth of the collection. We will also have the ability to share more images and we hope to be able to find more pictures of the development of Downside over the last 150 years.

Many of the photos we are working through now relate to pupils from the school from 1900-1930, and offer a rich insight into boarding school life at that time. Pictures of sporting events and plays are prominent in the collection, as are pictures of the Officer Training Corps and exercises they were involved in. Above is a photo of soldiers, possibly with some ex-Downside pupils among them. 

We have also unearthed many images of Downside dinners, when Old Gregorians would gather, a tradition which still goes on today. The image above has no date, but judging by the monks attending it must have been in the 1930's. Altogether, our photographic archive is a rich history of Downside, much of which is still waiting to be discovered.

Many Downside monks have been authors over the years, and a number of well received books have been penned on this site. Some of these were created by Dom Roger Hudleston, a collection of ghost stories which were written not always as fiction. One of our intrepid volunteers, Alice, has been looking into the books and the stories behind them.

'Full of piety as the stories are, their eschatology is never narrow, and the last beautifully illustrates the old priest's belief that 'an ultimate unity does exist'. Times Literary Supplement, 24th February 1924. 'There is much charm, much learning, much acute reasoning, much wise consideration [in the two books]' The Church Times, 29th March 1924.

These are just some of the reviews for Mystic Voices by Roger Pater, which were found in the Downside Archives and after a little detective work, led us to the actual book on the library shelves. This discovery is made more interesting by the fact that 'Roger Pater' is actually the pen name of Roger Hudleston, (1874-1936), monk of Downside, translated from the Latin for 'Father Roger'.

It appears that they were written in 1913 whilst Hudleston recovered from an operation for appendicitis, and some of them being originally published in The Catholic World, the rest 'sidetracked by the outbreak of hostilities and the loss of interest in anything else' (RH Letter to Mrs Brookfield, 23rd Feb 1925). They proved to be so popular, that they were published by Burns, Oates and Washbourne Ltd in December 1923. This became 'Mystic Voices' and told the 'experiences of the Rev. Phillip Rivers Pater'. Due to their success, a second volume was penned, detailing the life story of the above Rev. Phillip, known as 'Cousin Phillip'.

What is even more interesting is, that in replies to a flurry of fan mail from various sources, Roger Hudleston admits that the stories are not entirely fictitious. Of the collection of short stories, The Warnings and The Persecution Chalice are the real experiences of Hudleston. Chapters 3&5 are the experiences of others, chapters 9&11 are added to, but essentially true and chapter 13 is set in a real place. 'My Cousin Phillip' contains 'a considerable proportion of autobiography interested into the life of the old priest... He is what I should aspire to be, certainly not what I am'. (RH to Mr Pim, 4th Dec 1924).

The chapter, Persecution Chalice is based on a real experience of Dom Roger. Whilst saying Mass here at Downside, Dom Roger picked up the chalice which was brought to England during the French Revolution, and he could hear the sounds of rioting men outside. Gunfire and shouting were plainly audible to him as he held the chalice. Upon placing it down, the sounds stopped.

The readership of these stories was also incredibly interesting. Amongst its following, which included nuns, priests and other members of the religious community was Princess Blucher, a aristocrat who would become known for her war memoirs. She was so impressed with the stories, that she wrote to Hudleston in June 1935, to ask if she could borrow a passage for her own work. After being persuaded to amend her original plan of simply copying his work in order to acknowledge its source, it is unknown if it was eventually published as Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd never seem to have received any notice of its formal use. As well as being referenced in other works, there are also letters from 1933 concerning German translations of the novels, although it is unclear if this project was ever fully realised.

An extremely fortuitous find in the archive today ties in slightly late with the Remembrance Commemorations, but is most definitely worth sharing here.

Within the school records is a box labeled Downside War Memorial, and inside were these fabulous plans of the Downside War Memorial, designed by Leonard Stokes, who also built a large portion of Downside school. Dated 1921, the memorial was unveiled on Easter Sunday, 16th April 1922 and was blessed by the Right Reverend Bishop Keatinge, an Old Gregorian.

After the Great War, 110 names were on the memorial, all Old Gregorians who had given their lives during the conflict. The stone used was Bath stone.

There is also a blueprint of the inscriptions of the names to be written on the memorial sent over by the company producing it. Another memorial to the memory of the Old Gregorians is the nave of the Abbey Church. The names are also inscribed on a plaque on the west end.

Downside has a huge quantity of architectural drawings and plans relating to both buildings which were erected and those which remain 'unexecuted.' Found recently is a plan which falls into the latter category, a design for a proposed gate lodge here at Downside by Henry Goodridge.

Goodridge was a young architect in 1817 when Dom Augustine Baines arrived from Yorkshire as the new priest in charge of the Bath Mission. Baines immediately set about renovating the Catholic chapel in Old Orchard Street, which had been the Old Theatre Royal and is now the Freemason's Lodge. To do this, he employed Goodridge to build a small private chapel and cut new windows in the walls.

Goodridge would eventually go on to create a number of well known Bath buildings including the Corridor and Beckford's Tower at Lansdown. He also designed the chapel and an adjacent dormitory here at Downside in 1823. The chapel was one of the earliest neo-Gothic buildings in the country at the time, and still stands today next to the Old House and forms part of the quad.  

Sadly, this entrance lodge never made it past the planning stage.

We thought we’d share this little find on the 211th anniversary of death of Lord Admiral Nelson. This is the 1634 translation of Nicolas Caussin’s Cour Sainte, or Holy Court in English. Written by a French Catholic, this work on how to live a good, Christian life became very popular - even in England, where it was adopted as a recusant text.

This particular copy bares the armorial bookplate of Rev. Alexander John Scott, or Doctor Scott as he is better known in the history books. Scott was an Anglican chaplain and a friend for many years of Lord Nelson (who is purportedly responsible for the moniker ‘Doctor Scott’). Over the course of the Napoleonic Wars Scott served as Chaplain in Nelson’s fleet, as well as Private Secretary to Lord Nelson himself at one point.

On the fateful day of Nelson’s death, Scott was serving as Chaplain on HMS Victory. Although it has passed into popular imagination that Nelson died in Captain Hardy’s arms, some eye witness statements recount it was possibly Scott who was physically comforting Lord Nelson when his end came.

The inscription giving us this information is in the hand of Dom Raymund Webster, Downside Abbey’s ‘Great Librarian’. Where the book came from and where Webster got his information from, are both unknown. That it is from the library of Rev. Alexander Scott can probably be proven, that it was on board the famous HMS Victory, probably can never be.

Mount St Benedict, Ireland.

Today, Friday 7th October, is the announcement of the winner of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Coincidentally, this week one of our volunteers has found some information relating to this momentous occasion in our archives.

In the early and middle parts of the 20th century, Downside ran a school in Ireland for Catholics named Mount St Benedict in Gorey, Wexford. The school ran from 1907 to 1925, but this Downside foundation managed to produce a future winner of the Peace Prize.

Sean Macbride (1904-1988) was born in France and educated at Mount St Benedict after his father had been executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising. Whilst there he shared a room with renowned artist Cecil Salkeld and architect Simon Leonard.

At the age of 15 Macbride left the school and joined the Irish Volunteers during the Irish Civil War. He was imprisoned by the Irish Free State for the duration of this conflict. He went on to study law at University College, Dublin before being elected to the Irish government in 1947.

Macbride became increasingly involved with human rights issues and was also part of the creation of the Council of Europe in 1949. Macbride was one of the founder members of Amnesty International in 1961, and became United Nations Commissioner for Namibia in 1973.

In 1974 he won the Nobel Peace Prize 'for efforts on the behalf of human rights'. At this time he was chairman of the International Peace Bureau and Assistant Secretary General of the UN. Besides the Peace Prize, Macbride was also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize and the American Medal of Justice.

In 1980 he became chairman of UNESCO until he passed away in Dublin in 1988.