211075 Downing Record 07 - Downing College - University of ...

the University Printer, Mr Watts, and dedicated to the Vice-Chancellor and Headsof Houses. On completion of the ceremony, the University contingent processedback to the Senate House. Then at four o’clock the Vice-Chancellor and some sixtyor seventy Doctors and University Officers, including the Earl of Hardwicke,reassembled at the Red Lion for an ‘Entertainment’ hosted by the College.After nearly forty years’ toil for the Downing cause, how had Annesley securedthis most belated of triumphs? Thanks to important work by former Fellow TimHochstrasser, we now have a clearer understanding of the delicate complexitieswhich dogged any fulfilment of Sir George Downing’s will. 7 Never cut and dried,the struggle against Lady Downing and her heirs may be better understood as athree-way conflict, rapidly enervating rivalry over the fate and leadership of theprospective College. Central to this was the rather awkward position of the heirsat-law,whose involvement Charles Yorke, acting for the University, hadstrenuously opposed. 8 Whether the will was upheld or not, the heirs-at-law hadbeen effectively disinherited by its terms: any role would not only underline this,but potentially expose the bearer to suspicion of personal gain. Annesley wasperhaps the best equipped of the family members to evade such perils. His wealth,owning houses in Reading and Mayfair, appeared to limit any financial interestin a nascent College; unmarried, and a learned amateur and connoisseur, heoffered interests credibly suited to collegiate leadership. In addition to hisactivities in the Society of Antiquaries he was a renowned bibliophile, with a largecollection of classical literature, and held a position as hereditary Trustee of theBritish Museum (then still in its old building, Montagu House) through hisgrandfather, the Cottonian librarian William Hanbury.In his political and other worthy responsibilities, Annesley’s career appears tohave been punctuated by declarations of his own incorruptibility and rectitude,rooted in the basis of his support as MP for Reading, a previously venal borough.Yet behind these seemingly straightforward gestures, one may suspect the gripof a well connected and sometimes shrewd political operator. His position inReading hinged on the connections of his brother, Martin, in the town’scorporation; he also paid his election expenses direct. Annesley’s dealings withthe Yorkes may well have had a further dimension within the British Museum, animportant arena of Hardwicke patronage during the Trusteeship of the 2nd Earl(1753–90) and 3rd Earl (from 1802). 9 Annesley’s competing activities could,moreover, be convenient, well shown both in this rivalry and in his ultimateretirement from the Reading seat in 1806. In 1780, when approached by the 2nd7. Hochstrasser, ‘“A College in the Air’”, esp. pp. 84–97.8. Ibid., pp. 91–7.9. A. Esdaile, The British Library: a Short History and Survey (1946), pp. 18, 33 and 323; D. M. Wilson,The British Museum: a History (2002), pp. 28, 33 and 37.27