This semester volunteering in the archives has led to some interesting discoveries. We’ve been looking at material from the Victorian era, WW1 and WW2. Read on to find out more.

Ez Swanström found a “mention in despatches” for W.B. Maxwell in the Braddon Collection. Historians of military history will be familiar with the term which describes the process of reporting a military personnel’s gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. Maxwell was mentioned in Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch of Nov 7 1917 as Temp Captain Maxwell.

Tucked in with this information was a newspaper cutting from the Daily Mail dated 8 January 1918. Although our eyes were drawn to “Government Boots for Women” – 35 types of government-controlled boots for civilians. Really!! It was “Uniforms in Civil Life” that was the focal point of this clipping. The King had approved that officers who had relinquished their commissions during the war and who had been granted an honorary rank were allowed to wear uniforms when attending ceremonials and entertainments of a military nature.

Why was this significant? W.B. Maxwell had relinquished his commission only six days earlier on the 2nd January 1918. Could he have influenced the decision? We know that Maxwell knew the late Edward VII whom he described as “the biggest swell in Europe”. It’s possible Maxwell had friends in high places… or just cut it out as evidence that he was allowed to keep wearing his uniform.

There are also letters relating to medals and Maxwell’s reasons for resigning his commission which make interesting reading.

Ahem…

And sometimes we get mentioned in dispatches too. Here we found a mention to the John Strange Winter collection in Latchkey, a peer-reviewed, open-access online journal devoted to the concept of the New Woman. In this article, Seeney, M. (2022) ‘Henrietta Eliza Stannard (1856 -1911)‘, The Latchkey: Journal of New Woman Studies. Vol. XI. Summer, Michael Seeney wrote: “A significant collection of the works of John Strange Winter is at the International Centre for Victorian Women Writers at Canterbury University.” We’re rather proud of that!

Summer projects

Katarina Kunova and Iva Sovkicova have been preparing the Arts and Culture posters for their new home – a plan chest which will be arriving in the Autumn. They loved some of the wonderfully creative exhibitions that the university has held over the years. The arts librarian, Lynsey Blandford has created a web page to showcase the collection. We look forward to working on the inventory in the Autumn.

Cam has been researching material related to an arrest under Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regulations 1939. He has been meticulously searching the events surrounding the arrest and will be putting his research to good use in his second year history modules. He has also been involved in the University of Kent’s 50/50 project to celebrate 50 years of the cartoon archive.

Yosselin Claudio Montano has been cataloguing the Bessie Marchant collection. Bessie was a novelist from Petham, near Canterbury, who wrote almost 150 adventure stories. The archive contains photographs, letters and research notes about Bessie’s life gathered by Alan Major in the 1980s which form the basis of his article “Bessie Marchant: the Maid of Kent whose exciting stories thrilled thousands of English children”. This England Magazine, Winter 1991. pp 30–33.

The original score of the ‘Jubilate Deo’ which was specially commissioned from Canon Christopher Gower for the Diamond Jubilee Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving has been received in the archives. That’s a rather special addition to the University archive.

We had a donation of The History of Kent by Ireland with some beautiful illustrations which have been photographed by our friends at Kent Maps Online.

We have also been getting photoshop training from Freya Claes, IT trainer, as we want to remove the foxing and distortion in our digital images.

I think that about wraps up our activities this academic year, but we have more exciting projects planned, so if you would like to volunteer with the university archives, do get in touch with michelle.crowther1@canterbury.ac.uk