Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

Secretary he addressed the third session in 1821, urging members to make the buildings
of the past better known and to promote architecture which was ‘less honoured’ than the
other arts. 124 With its emphasis on this being a union of ‘Gentlemen’ and the
characteristic reference to the ‘jealousy and envy’ the society had so far attracted in some
quarters, the address suggests that personal and professional advancement for the
members and the achievement of some sort of official recognition were motivating
factors. 125 There were only, in 1821, sixteen full members. Although the several honorary
and corresponding members included Dawson Turner, the sculptor Canova and the
Franco-German architect Hittorff, the Society seems to have fizzled out soon afterwards.
Britton, however, had by now found another avenue down which to pursue his
architectural campaign in the works he produced with Edward Willson.
Edward Willson: Gothic Architecture and Modern Imitations
Willson was in many ways the model of the popular type of the antiquary. His
typicality extended to his character as an author, in which he much resembled Jonathan
Oldbuck who ‘like many other men who spend their lives in obscure literary
research…had a secret ambition to appear in print, which was checked by cold fits of
diffidence, fear of criticism, and habits of indolence and procrastination’. 126 This
temperament, combined with periods of ill-health, prevented Willson from achieving any
great independent reputation. Although his qualities were recognized to some extent by
both Eastlake, who realised that his work had ‘never been thoroughly appreciated’ 127 and
by Pevsner, who found what Willson had to say ‘interesting in its own right’ his
124
Britton, An address read before the Society of Architects and Antiquaries of London at the first meeting
of their third session, p.11.
125
Britton, An address read before the Society of Architects and Antiquaries of London at the first meeting
of their third session, p. 3.
126
Scott, The Antiquary, 135.
127
Eastlake, A History of the Gothic Revival, p.90.
69