Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

. .Tbc ChallooLun Llomw and Ehilo~o~hrri IoruiuUonFig. 5. An engraving of the CheltenhamInstitution published in 1845. The 'politesociety' shown outside soon allowed thebuilding to be demolished (Cheltenham PublicLibrary).-It was in 1845, during Gomonde's Presidency,that the CLPI sent a deputation to the BritishAssociation for the Advancement of Sciencemeeting at Cambridge. The deputation includedThomas Bodley and went with the intention ofgetting the BAAS to meet in Cheltenham in 1846(CLPI archives, letter of 24 June 1845). Butthe overture was not finally successful as theInstitution later felt unable to give the BAAS'an adequate reception'. It met instead atSouthampton (Renort of BAAS, 16, 1846, p.xviii).The nominal bearers of the title of Curator areamongst the least known dramatis uersonae of theInstitution. From the annual salaries paid in1844 - Curator £40 and Assistant Curator £23-1-0- they were still clearly little more thanjanitors or clerks. The curator in 1841-1844was James Blakie (CLPI Accounts and Vouchers for1841-1845, Chelt. Publ. Lib.). By 1845-1846 thecurator's salary was £52 per annum (13thm, p.31).The Institution was noticed thus in February1845, after its first decade (Rowe 1845, p.18)in the building illustrated in Fig.5:The first President of the Literary and'The LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTIONPhilosophical Institution was Dr Henry(opened 1833) now demands attention, but theCharles Boisragon (c.1770-1852) (Bell 1981) gave crowded situation of the building prevents thethe Inaugural Address published in 1833beautiful proportions of the portico from being(Boisragon 1833) but is not known to have taken fully appreciated; and we may remark, aany particular interest in geology. He was -, that erections of this kind usuallyfollowed by Dr Disney L. Thorp who purchased lose very much of their beauty when thus set upgeological specimens for the Institution'sand confined amongst modern houses and shops.Museum at the Dudfield auction (see above).This portico is a model of one of the ends ofThe next President, elected in March 1845, was the justly-celebrated Temple of Theseus atWilliam Henry Gomonde (c.1803-1863) (Cheltenham Athens. Its peculiar appropriateness to theLooker on, 26 September 1863, p.626). He present use will be admitted, when we considergraduated BA at Oxford University in 1825. He the Attic King in the relation of one of theis best known as an antiquary (Austin 1928, p.5) founders of Ancient Greek civilization, and thebut again was a significant geological collector originator of the popular form of government.and the dedicate of the fossil gastropod Turbo In after years, his admiring countrymen gatheredgomondei n. sp. (Morris and Lyeett 1851-1855, his bones from their exile-grave, to bury thempp.66-67). The authors of this species note with national honors in the magnificentthat they were allowed to use his collection of temple-tomb which hears his name. TheOolite fossils. This collection has notInstitution was formed for "the Cultivation ofpreviously been traced (Cox and Arkell 1950, Literature and Science, and the Preservation ofp.xxii) but Lias and Inferior Oolite material such works of Art as tend to illustrate theand Silurian specimens from Malvern were all progress of Discovery and Civilization." Todonated to, and in part arranged by Gamonde for, effect these desirable objects, Public Lecturesthe Cheltenham Institution (14th Reoort CLPI, and Readings are delivered during the Session,pp.8-9) in 1846. A letter in the CLPI archives which extends from September to May, works offrom Gomonde to the Secretary dated 23 April Art and Science, subjects of Natural History,1846 records this presentation 'of an almost Antiquities etc. are deposited; a Librarycomplete series of the fossils of the Inferior established, and a Reading-room for the use ofOolite from the immediate neighbourhood ofthe subscribers. The building was erected underCheltenham ... and I also beg to state that the the superintendence of R. W. Jearrad, Esq., theRev. R. L. Benson of 12 Pitteville Paradetalented architect of the Queen's Hotel, Christ[q. v.] has through me sent some fossils from Church, and other buildings which adorn thethe same stratum as also others from the upper town. It contains a spacious and elegantand lower Lias'. Brodie (1850, ~ ~245) refers to lecture room, museums, reading room, laboratory,this choice Inferior Oolite materlal whichoffices etc., with a residence for the curator.Gomonde had obtained from Leckhampton. Gamonde The Institution consists of Proprietors,was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society Ordinary Members, and Life and Honoraryof London in 1852 (ex.. 3. C. Thackray) but Members. The affairs are managed by a Councilseems to have later returned to hisof ten Proprietors, five Ordinary Members, thearchaeological work; his library andPresident, two Vice-Presidents, Secretary, andantiquarian collections (comprising onlyTreasurer. Each department of the Museums isarchaeological material) were auctioned inunder the charge of a Curator; and that devotedCheltenham soon after his death (Cheltenham to Geology is particularly rich in specimens. ALooker, 21 November 1863, p.747; 28 November permanent Library of Reference far general use1863, p.769). has been established in connexion with thisInstitution.'