The Autumn 2013 George Borrow Bulletin is now out (Series 2,
No. 7).
Members should have received their copy during December 2013.
We’re continuing with abstracts of the main articles and also giving some information on the contributors.
We hope to expand this area in future.
Not only does Bulletin 2.7 cover a lot of geography (Spain to Brompton, Central Europe to Oulton and so on) but there’s quite a few coloured illustrations making this edition a treat for the eye as well as an enjoyable and informative read. Although it was finished just before our November 2013 conference at Norwich, there’s the famous picture of the 1913 George Borrow Celebration Banquet at the Maid’s Head on the back cover.
The next edition of the George Borrow Bulletin is being prepared and should be out in Spring 2014. Contributors please note that the deadline for contributions 31st January 2014.
George Borrow Bulletin 2nd Series nº 7 (Autumn 2013) |
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News |
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2 |
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Membership of the Society |
2 |
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Recent events |
5 |
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Future events |
Articles |
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6 |
Missler, Peter |
Beware of Wentworth Webster (and his Marquis of Santa Coloma) |
18 |
Webster, Wentworth |
Appendix: The text of ‘Stray Notes on George Borrow’s Life in Spain’ |
21 |
Laurie, Kedrun |
Lavengro Road, London SE27 |
29 |
Moore, Norrette |
Anthony Gross: from Mirabete to London Bridge |
Notes and Queries |
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38 |
Mawtus, Mark |
(1) Col. Crockett’s Exploits and Adventures in Texas |
42 |
Ridler, Ann M. |
(2) Another Forgotten Borrovian, Arthur Garland Jayne |
45 |
Price, David |
(3) The man who buried Borrow |
50 |
Froiz, Fátima |
(4) Calle Jorge Borrow, La Coruña |
51 |
Barrett, Ken |
(5) And a Park at Ferrol in Northern Spain, named after Borrow! |
52 |
Rowlandson, Paul |
(6) George Borrow and London Bridge |
56 |
Kerrigan, Colm |
(7) Favourite books about Spain |
56 |
Hentges, John |
(8) The other Galicia—A note on the story of Judah Lib |
58 |
Hitchcock, Richard |
(9) An echo of Borrow in Madrid in 1943 |
63 |
Ridler, Ann M. |
(10) The Borrow Plaque in the Calle Santiago, Madrid |
Book Review |
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65 |
Ridler, Ann M. |
Michael Erard, Mezzofanti’s Gift: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners |
Other |
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68 |
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Publications |
72 |
Price, David |
(1) Borrow On-Line |
75 |
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(2) Some welcome publicity for the Bulletin |
75 |
Bainbridge, John |
(3) Footloose with George Borrow: A new on-line booklet |
76 |
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(4) The Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Day |
76 |
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Press Cuttings |
77 |
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The George Borrow Trust Essay Competition |
78 |
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Amendment |
78 |
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Borrow Portrayed (7) |
80 |
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Back Numbers of Bulletins, Binders and Proceedings |
Peter Missler was born in 1959 in
Amersfoort (The Netherlands). He briefly studied Philosophy at
the University of Utrecht before moving to Paris, where he mainly
exercised as bohemian. After four years as bookseller,
house-cleaner, electrician, hotel attendant and metro-busker, he
returned to Holland to earn a degree in Egyptology from the
University of Leiden. In 1993 he moved to Granada, Spain, and two
years later to Santiago de Compostela. He is a member of the
George Borrow Society and a regular contributor to the George
Borrow Bulletin. These Bulletin articles resulted in
two book-sized studies: A Daring Game in 2009 and The
Treasure Hunter of Santiago in late 2010. Peter Missler
presently lives in Brion, west of Santiago, with his wife
Palmyra, their son Yasin and the Homeric sheep-dog Argos.
Dr Kedrun Laurie was formerly
Assistant Curator of the Geffrye Museum in London, specialising
in the history of interiors and costume. She subsequently worked
for some years as a consultant on the restoration of historic
parks and gardens. She received her doctorate in English
Literature from King’s College London in 2003. Her thesis,
entitled ‘“If I had Wings”: country
writers and the claims of conservation’, included a chapter
on George Borrow. She now works as an independent scholar in
Belgium with a particular interest in the art and literature of
the long nineteenth century.
Born in the west London suburbs, Norrette
Moore studied physics and medical physics for her first
and post graduate degrees. Now in the final year of an English
Literature BA with the Open University, she has crossed the
Rubicon from science to the arts. As an IT specialist, Norrette
worked some 13 years at a well-known auction house fuelling an
interest in art that was originally instilled by her mother. She
is an occasional contributor to the George Borrow Bulletin
discussing Borrow’s illustrators. In Norrette’s
ancestry, there are Borrows through the maternal line, but she
asserts that she has yet to prove any link between her
3rd Great-grandfather George Borrow, born in West
Sussex in 1827, and the Cornish family of George Henry, the
renowned author.
Dr Ann Ridler graduated from
Oxford as a modern linguist in 1956. Now retired, she was
professionally involved in course validation and the
accreditation of institutions in further and higher education
(1969–1999). Her PhD (cnaa,
1983) was on the subject of ‘George Borrow as a
Linguist’ and her thesis was subsequently printed for
private circulation in an edition of 100 copies (1996). She has
been engaged in research on Borrow since 1975. A founder member
of the George Borrow Society, she has been Chairman since 1997
and has edited the George Borrow Bulletin since 1991.
The article investigates the reliability of the memoirs of the Marques de Santa Coloma which were published in 1880 by the Rev. Wentworth Webster. Santa Coloma was a friend of Borrow’s in the 1830s, and supposedly a Carlist agent. On scrutiny, the tales he told Webster half a century later prove to be extremely confused and of little historical worth.
In the South London suburb of West Norwood lies an unassuming street of terraced houses called Lavengro Road. The name was approved by the London County Council in 1906 and the road itself laid out between 1910 and 1917, at a time when the mere title of Borrow’s book was thought sufficient to attract prospective residents. The name also alluded to the area’s history as a Gypsy camping ground, the subject of a 1915 article in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. This article looks at Norwood’s Gypsy past and at its gradual evolution into suburb. The development of Lavengro Road at a pivotal moment of exchange between nomadic and fixed populations is considered in detail and it is asked whether two doorways in the form of Gypsy caravans might not reflect a specific reading of Chapter 5 of Lavengro.
The Royal Academician, Anthony Gross CBE, was a twentieth century etcher and illustrator of such novels as the Forsyte Saga and Wuthering Heights as well as studies of London’s bridges. Gross studied at the Slade School of Art and was a member of the London Group of artists, following in the footsteps of the Nash brothers and Rupert Lee. Gross held a life-long interest in George Borrow perhaps leading to his own travels in Spain. This led to the initiation of a project to illustrate the Bible in Spain. The article explores why this may not have come to fruition during the years surrounding World War II and also his parallel war experiences with Eileen Bigland, a biographer of Borrow.