Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration: Norwich, July 5th, 1913 — John Shaqi
Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration: Norwich, July 5th, 1913Hooper, James
History
Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration: Norwich, July 5th, 1913
Hooper, James
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Borrow, George, 1803-1881
use of the photograph, which was not taken by Tom Brightwell, but by Mr.
Pulley, a solicitor, of the firm of Field, Son, & Pulley. This picture
is now the property of Mrs. Simms Reeve, of Norwich and Brancaster Hall.
Her own portrait as a girl is one of several separate figures framed
together, Borrow occupying a place in the top row. Fortunately, by the
courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Simms Reeve, this interesting portrait of
Borrow, when he was forty-five years of age, has now been reproduced, and
it is, perhaps, the most valuable item in this souvenir, it also is lent
by Mrs. Simms Reeve for the temporary collection of Borrow relics in
Norwich Castle Museum. When he came to Norwich in these later days
Borrow used to lodge at Mrs. Church's, in Lady Lane, off Bethel Street,
known as Ivy House, and much frequented by theatrical people, now adapted
to be a Dispensary. A grand-daughter of Borrow's friend W. Bodham Donne
wrote me, in 1902, that "Borrow once lodged at Ivy Cottage, Lady's Lane,
where a dear old Miss Donne was living." From Lady Lane it is only a few
hundred yards to the well-loved little house in Willow Lane, at which his
father died, and where his mother lived till her removal to Oulton as
stated above.
Little remains to record. Some there are who remember Borrow's tall
figure in the streets of Norwich. The old city--"the Norwich I
love"--seemed to draw him irresistibly from his hermitage. Nor is this
to be wondered at; for all accounts I have seen, and heard also, of the
Oulton domestic arrangements during the last few years of his life, agree
that they were deplorable. Mr. Elwin told me that, after the death of
Borrow's wife, the home was not well looked after, and that Mr. Cooke
(Murray's cousin and partner) "told him with tears in his eyes how
neglected the home was, and how the noble old man was broken up." Miss
Jay also informed me that "after Mrs. Borrow's death Mrs. MacOubrey was
wanting in tact to manage him and the affairs of the family, hence the
gradual decline of household matters into the disorder and neglect
referred to by visitors to Oulton in Borrow's latter days." No wonder
the weary old Lav-engro was glad to revisit the scenes of his youth, and
found it restful to spend much of his time in the Norfolk Hotel (which
stood where the Hippodrome now is), talking with his friends, with a
glass before him--"of course to pay for the seat," remarks Dr. Knapp,
with an apparent attempt at sarcasm. I know a gentleman in Norwich now
who remembers Borrow's visits to the Subscription Library opposite the
Guildhall, and his adjournments to the "Norfolk" after asking my
informant to join him in a glass of brandy and water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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