Memorial Tablet Research Articles

Ces jours auvergnats où la liberté fut victime

The memorial tablet at the entrance of the Strasbourg University (Palais universitaire) serves, thanks to the names listed on it, to preserve a memory that has taken on various forms, in the course of the years, although these forms do not necessarily exclude each other. The following lines describe the crucial moments of this metamorphosis.

Memorial tablet to Jozsef Hofner, surgeon of Győr

Memorial tablet to Jozsef Hofner, surgeon of Győr

A Tale About the First Weights and Measures Intercomparison in the United States in 1832.

In preparation for the Hassler memorial tablet dedication in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Administration Building lobby in December of 2004, I learned that Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler had carried out the first systematic study of weights and measures in the United States. I obtained a copy of Comparison of Weights and Measures of Length and Capacity Reported to the Senate of the United States which is Hassler’s 1832 report to Congress on this comparison that related all the weights and measures then in use by the states and federal customhouses. Handwritten inscriptions in the book reveal interesting facts about Hassler’s work and his communication with other scientists in Europe at that time.

Search for the war horse and mule memorial tablet

Search for the war horse and mule memorial tablet

No ‘Heathen's Corner’ here: the failed campaign to memorialize Herbert Spencer in Westminster Abbey

Recently, while reading papers left by the chemist Raphael Meldola (1849–1915), I came across seventy-two letters that relate to a 1904 campaign, led by Meldola, to have a memorial tablet for Herbert Spencer placed in Westminster Abbey. A list of those who eventually signed Meldola's petition to the Dean of Westminster can be found in David Duncan's Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer. The Meldola Papers include letters from some, but not all, of the signatories, from people who refused to sign, and from one or two who agreed to sign, but whose names do not appear on the published list. The surviving correspondence is probably incomplete, as can be inferred from references in the existing letters and from the fact that the Meldola Papers appear to have been somewhat haphazardly collected. Together, the letters show how Spencer's work was viewed by some of Britain's leading intellectuals, shortly after his death in 1903. They reveal that the details of Spencer's work were largely forgotten and that Meldola's correspondents were divided on whether Spencer had been simply a controversialist or had done something worthwhile. Even those (the majority) who believed the latter were unable to articulate exactly what was worthwhile in Spencer's work.This paper records some of the content of the letters as well as some details of the memorial campaign and of the people involved. My main purpose is to bring these interesting letters to light. James Moore has written of the successful effort to have Charles Darwin buried in Westminster Abbey and of the subsequent campaign for an Abbey memorial plaque, and for a statue to be placed in the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. The unsuccessful campaign on behalf of Spencer, twenty-two years later, provides an interesting comparison. It is not my purpose fully to explore the cultural implications. However, the letters suggest that this and one or two other avenues of inquiry might be worth pursuing.

The Countess Margaret of Henneberg and Her 365 Children

According to an obscure medieval legend, the Countess Margaret of Henneberg, a notable Dutch noblewoman, gave birth to 365 children in the year 1276. The haughty Countess had insulted a poor beggar woman carrying twins, since she believed that a pair of twins must have different fathers, and that their mother must be an adultress. She was punished by God, and gave birth to 365 minute children on Good Friday, 1276. The Countess died shortly after, together with her offspring, in the village of Loosduinen near The Hague. The Countess and her numerous brood were frequently described in historical and obstetrical works. To this day, a memorial tablet and two basins, representing those in which the 365 children were baptized, are to be seen in the church of Loosduinen.

"A New Departure in Historic, Patriotic Work": Personalism, Professionalism, and Conflicting Concepts of Material Culture in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, Celeste Bush banded together a small group of friends in rural Connecticut to place memorial tablets at historic spots and preserve a colonial home. Through her East Lyme Historical Society, she also planned to protect an ancient graveyard by reinterring the scattered remains in ordered plots and new coffins. Such a practice was common for women in the patriotic and ancestral societies, as in the case of those Virginia ladies who founded the nation's first statewide preservation organization and reburied the sacred ashes of their forebears in ritualistic

The Bashford Dean Memorial Tablet by Daniel Chester French

Metropolitan was transformed from an unimportant aspect of the Decorative Arts department into an active and independent department with world-class holdings and an international reputation for scholarship. In recognition for his services to the Museum, Dean had also been elected to the Board of Trustees in 1927. After his death, in what was a significant sign of respect for Dean's connoisseurship, the trustees raised funds among themselves to augment the Dean bequest by purchasing many additional items from his estate for the Museum's permanent collection. It was this private call for funds that prompted the sculptor Daniel Chester French, also a trustee, to contribute not money but another form of memorial for which he was uniquely qualified: a bronze bas-relief. As French recounted to the Museum's secretary, H. W. Kent, when there was an opportunity given to the trustees to subscribe to the purchase of the Dean armor, I wrote to Mr. de Forest [Robert de Forest, president of the Museum] that I could not compete with my multi-millionaire associates, but that I should like to contribute the tablet in bronze in memory of Dr. Dean, to be erected in the Armor galleries.3 In addi-

New Forms of Lay Spirituality, Buddhist and Christian

One of the most intriguing events in the recent history of lay spirituality East and West has been the schism of the Soka Gakkai lay organization from its monastic parent, the Nichiren Shoshu.1 This break between the two religious organizations has inspired the Soka Gakkai to reform itself in a manner that is open to developing new and constructive avenues for dialogue with other religions. They claim that, because of the conservative influence of the Nichiren Shoshu leadership, they were unable to pursue the possibility of dialogue in the past. However, today in Japan, the Soka Gakkai Institute for Oriental Religions at Soka University and the Christian Nanzan Institute at Nagoya University have begun a joint series of dialogue sessions at their respective institutions. In March 1994, the president of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, Jan Van Bragt of the Nanzan Institute, gave a keynote address to the tenth annual convention of the Institute for Oriental Religions.2 Here in the United States, members of our own society participated in the October 1994 conference United Nations and the World's Religions: Prospects for a Global Ethic hosted by Columbia University in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International's Boston Research Center for the 21st Century. What is especially intriguing to me in reading about this schism is the way in which the Soka Gakkai is trying to redefine itself as a purely lay organization apart from the monastic and clerical tradition of the Nichiren Shoshu. The word reformation occurs often in their literature, and it is evident that they are using Luther's reformation as a model for their own reforming efforts.3 As Luther faced the morally and spiritually compromising effects of simony and lay investiture as well as the selling of indulgences in his time, the Soka Gakkai sees itself as facing the decadent effects of the patronage system and hereditary lineage as well as the selling of toba (memorial tablets) in modern Japan. The Soka Gakkai derives inspiration for dealing with the Japanese situation from Luther's emphasis on the equality of clerics and laity as well as his notions of sola scriptura and sola fides-both of which do not depend on rites and rituals controlled by the clergy. This emphasis on scripture and faith is important to the Soka

The Making of an Anglican Martyr: Bishop John Coleridge Patteson of Melanesia

Since the beginning of Anglican missionary activity in the southwest Pacific in the mid-nineteenth century, fifteen European missionaries and at least seven Pacific Islanders have died violently in the course of their work. In that same region, comprising island Melanesia and New Guinea, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and the London Missionary Society [L.M.S.] have each had their honour roll of martyrs. Three of these have achieved a measure of fame outside the Pacific and their own denomination: John Williams of the L.M.S., killed at Erromanga in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) in 1839; James Chalmers, also of the L.M.S., killed in New Guinea in 1901; and John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of Melanesia and head of the Melanesian Mission, killed in 1871. Patteson has been the subject of more than fifteen biographies (several of them in German and Dutch), in addition to essays in collections on English missionary heroes, scholarly articles, and pamphlets for popular consumption. In Anglican churches in England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and elsewhere he is commemorated as missionary hero in memorial tablets and stained-glass windows.

An Ethiopic Inscription in Westminster Abbey

Early in the spring of 1990, Professor Josef van Ess of Tübingen University came to visit me at my home at Oxford. In the course of conversation he asked me about an Ethiopic memorial tablet he had seen in Westminster Abbey. To my chagrin I had to own that the existence of such an inscription was quite unknown to me. In the hope of removing (or at least of mitigating) this stain of inexcusable ignorance, I hastened to the Abbey the following week – only to find it closed to visitors on account of a broadcast recording performance. I then wrote to the Assistant Librarian of Westminster Abbey (Mrs Enid Nixon) who proved to be immensely helpful and knowledgeable and was kind enough to answer my queries and to provide me with precious information. I have since been able to inspect the monumentin situ.

W. Stanley Houghton: An Introduction and Bibliography

W. Stanley Houghton is one of these forgotten playwrights who made an important contribution to English drama. Since his death at the age of only thirty-two, in 1913, his name has gradually faded from memory, although his most famous play, Hindle Wakes (1912), remains familiar. No detailed biography of him exists; indeed, the absence of such a work is curious, since he achieved national and, in due course, American fame, and his reputation remained high for several years after his death. Ironically, the 1914 edition of Who's Who was released to the press at the time of his death on II December 1913; in it was Houghton's first entry. Virtually all the national papers carried his death, with The Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian) in particular giving it wide coverage because he had been a part-time member of its staff. His native city, Manchester, was so proud of him that it erected a memorial tablet in his honour. Its unveiling in February 1915 was performed by Miss A.E.F. Horniman, whose Gaiety Theatre (Manchester) was an influential enterprise in the development of repertory theatre in England. Houghton wrote many of his plays for her. At approximately the same time, a memorial scholarship, originally intended to be offered to Manchester University, was instituted at The Manchester Grammar School, where Houghton had been a pupil.

W. Stanley Houghton: An Introduction and Bibliography

W. Stanley Houghton is one of these forgotten playwrights who made an important contribution to English drama. Since his death at the age of only thirty-two, in 1913, his name has gradually faded from memory, although his most famous play, Hindle Wakes (1912), remains familiar. No detailed biography of him exists; indeed, the absence of such a work is curious, since he achieved national and, in due course, American fame, and his reputation remained high for several years after his death. Ironically, the 1914 edition of Who's Who was released to the press at the time of his death on II December 1913; in it was Houghton's first entry. Virtually all the national papers carried his death, with The Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian) in particular giving it wide coverage because he had been a part-time member of its staff. His native city, Manchester, was so proud of him that it erected a memorial tablet in his honour. Its unveiling in February 1915 was performed by Miss A.E.F. Horniman, whose Gaiety Theatre (Manchester) was an influential enterprise in the development of repertory theatre in England. Houghton wrote many of his plays for her. At approximately the same time, a memorial scholarship, originally intended to be offered to Manchester University, was instituted at The Manchester Grammar School, where Houghton had been a pupil.

The Cheju-do Rebellion

The Cheju-do Rebellion JOHN MERRILL INTRODUCTION Cjheju-do is known today mostly for its booming tourism, its hardy diving women, and its lush orange groves. Located some fifty miles below the southernmost tip of the Korean peninsula, and about twice that from the nearest landfall in Japan, the 700-square-mile island is dominated by the extinct volcanic crater of Halla-san, at 6,000 feet the highest peak in South Korea. Cheju-do is now an easy hour's flight from Seoul. Visitors come and go, soaking up the local color and enjoying the spectacular scenery. Few of them know anything of its history, other than romantic guidebook tales of its founding in the union of three island men spewn from an underground spring and three women washed up from the sea.1 The story has a particular appeal to the many newlywed couples who have made the island the most popular honeymoon spot in South Korea. Yet discordant notes occasionally intrude: the ruins of wrecked temples on the slopes of the mountain, clusters of memorial tablets enclosed by stone walls, the foundations of an upland village now overgrown with brambles. I would like to acknowledge here the suggestions of Gregory Henderson, Vincent Brandt, and Edward Wagner on the original version of this article, written as an M.A. paper at Harvard University in 1975. 1.Fredrick H. Dustin, An Introduction to Cheju-do: Korea's Island Province (n.p., 1975), is one such account. Published with a special grant from the Asia Foundation to Cheju National University, the book makes no mention at all of the rebellion. The introduction does note, though, that "as time goes on it may be revised and somewhat expanded," perhaps in reference to this omission. 2.Yang Sang-ick, Echoes of Mt. Halla (Cheju: Cheju National University, 1977), pp. 4-5. Yang's book does have a short section on the "Guerrilla Uprising," 139 140Journal ofKorean Studies For beneath the island's natural beauty and new-found prosperity lies a tragic and bloody past. The most appalling chapter in its history occurred little more than thirty years ago. Led by Communist guerrilla bands rushing down from Halla mountain, the people of the island rose up on April 3, 1948, in opposition to elections scheduled for the southern zone. Before it was over, a year later, the rebellion had claimed tens of thousands of persons as its victims. Whole villages in the interior of the island were laid waste, their inhabitants cruelly massacred or forcibly relocated to refugee camps along the coast. Only fragmentary accounts of this slaughter ever reached the outside world. Few relief efforts were undertaken. And for years the island languished in poverty and obscurity, ignored by the Rhee government. It was only in the 1960s that it finally began to recover. Despite its importance, the Cheju-do rebellion has been little studied. No more than a few paragraphs have been published on it in English, and no definitive treatment has yet been done in any language .3 Information on the rebellion is available mostly in scattered Korean accounts and in a large number of recently declassified American archival documents.4 pp. 54-57, that seems to be reprinted from an account written at the time of the rebellion. 3.David I. Steinberg, Korea: Nexus of East Asia (New York: American-Asian Educational Exchange, 1968), p. 18. 4.Since these written sources vary greatly' in their reliability and coverage, it may be well to say a few words about them before beginning this account. There are three main sources: South Korean, Communist, and American. The South Korean materials consist of both military histories and studies of the South Korean Labor party (SKLP). While these sources provide a basic record of events, they also have many problems. The rebellion usually receives only a limited treatment, a chapter or two at most, and is generally not the main concern of these books. The military histories suffer from too narrow a focus on the personalities of successive ROK commanders and the tactics they adopted on the island. Details on the actual conduct of operations are usually lacking. Studies of the SKLP, on the...

Karel Absolon as a Geographer and a Great Personality of Czech Natural Science

Karel Absolon as a Geographer and a Great Personality of Czech Natural Science

A King Theodore Opera

NO GOOD Londoner should need an introduction to King Theodore of Corsica, since His Majesty was buried in St. Anne's, Soho; and his memorial tablet is there on the west wall of the tower, with Horace Walpole's epitaph for all to read. What is not mentioned there, however, is the part the Corsican monarch was to play in the history of comic opera. Let me fill the gap. How did it come about that this German adventurer should have won

Thomas Tomkins 1575?–1656

The tercentenary of the death of Tomkins falls on 9 June of this year. The exact year of his birth is not known, but Atkins and Fellowes, from information on the memorial tablet of his son, Nathaniel, both agree that it was 1575 or a little earlier. Tomkins's remark in the dedication to his Songs (1662) (in which he addresses the Earl of Pembroke) that ‘… I first breathed, and beheld the sunne, in that Country, to which your Lordship gives that greatest lustre, taking the Title of your Earledome from it …’ encouraged Dr. Fellowes to follow up the clue, and he was rewarded by discovering in a Chapter Act Book at St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, that three by the name of Thomas Tomkins—a father and two sons—had served there.

Memorial Tablet Presented to State

Memorial Tablet Presented to State

The war memorial: Dedication of the memorial book and tablets

The war memorial: Dedication of the memorial book and tablets

James Hutton (1726-97) and Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

THIS year, the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of James Hutton, who has justly been styled the ‘father of modern geology’, has been made the occasion for a number of commemorative meetings in Scotland, the land of his birth. Addresses have been delivered to the Geological Societies of Edinburgh and Glasgow; and, on November 3, at a special meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh., Sir Edward Bailey read a paper on the “Life and Work of Hutton” see p. 727. On the same day the Lord Provost of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial tablet in Greyfriars Churchyard. This plaque was appropriately cut from granite, the igneous origin of which was first demonstrated by Hutton; and it was placed close to his hitherto unmarked grave.