Hurrell Froude: Memoranda and CommentsGuiney, Louise Imogen
History
Hurrell Froude: Memoranda and Comments
Guiney, Louise Imogen
Froude, Richard Hurrell, 1803-1836
Given, therefore, Miss Giberne’s ardour in the matter, and her
frequently-recurring opportunities as a visitor, it would seem almost
certain that she would not have let slip any chance of portraying so
noticeable a luminary as Hurrell Froude, often absent, like herself,
from Oxford, during 1831-1833, and away from it almost altogether
afterwards. Her discovered sketch-books, preserved in the hands of
relatives and friends, yield, so far, but a single page in which
Froude appears. She groups and labels him with other conspirators’ at
a historic moment,[5] in the one Oxford Common Room which ‘stank of
logic.’ Something in the too quiescent gesture of the graceful person
‘on the box,’ as well as in the nature of the circumstance, make one
suspect that the whole was drawn not on the spot, nor from memory, but
from hearsay at the time. Were such the case, the implication would be
that Miss Giberne had a good prior knowledge of Froude’s face and
figure, and even that she was not committing these to paper for the
first time. This little drawing is the property of her nephew, George
Pearson, Esq., of Manchester; it is owing to his courtesy and kindness
that it is here made public.
The picture of Dartington Parsonage, the antique house in the vale
three miles from Totnes, Devonshire, where Hurrell Froude was born,
and where he died, is from a larger water-colour drawing by Arthur
Holdsworth Froude, in the possession of his sister, the Baroness
Anatole von Hügel. The Parsonage, in its mediæval simplicity, was
first sketched by Archdeacon Froude, then the newly-appointed Rector,
in 1799; this sketch yet exists on a fly-leaf of the Parish records.
He at once rebuilt the whole west wing, planted shrubs and vines, and
drained away the pond; but there were no other alterations until after
his death and the removal of the family in 1859-60, when his grandson
Arthur drew the house from memory. Even now, the porch, and everything
to the right of it, upstairs and down, is practically the very same as
in Hurrell’s time; elsewhere the gables have disappeared, and the
tourelle has changed its place. The Parish Church (of fourteenth
century work, like the Hall) is from an old negative by Messrs.
Brinley and Son, of Totnes. This view from the south-west shows the
low railing over the Froude vault, which lay in the angle of the
porch, next the wall. The Church being taken down in 1878, the strong
plain Tower was left alone and intact, standing sentinel over the
dead; and the large slab shown in the foreground of the modern
photograph, covering the burial-place of Hurrell Froude and of his
kindred, is as it looks to-day. The print of Oriel College great
quadrangle is from a photograph copyrighted many years ago by Messrs.
Henry W. Taunt and Co., of Oxford, and here used by their permission.
The inner top tier of three windows next the angle of the Chapel marks
the rooms occupied by Froude. They are on the second floor of
Staircase No.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account