All about Aloysius

There are some unfathomable mysteries in life. One is why John Betjeman called his teddy bear Archibald Ormsby-Gore. He took Archie with him to Oxford and Archie appears in Brideshead Revisited as Sebastian Flyte’s teddy, Aloysius.

St Aloysius Church, Oxford

It’s only a guess but I reckon Waugh chose the name Aloysius as the main Catholic Church in Oxford is St Aloysius Gonzaga. Next time I am in Oxford I will pay a visit but until then I can tell you that it was built in 1875 by an architect whose mother with some foresight thought to christen him Aloysius – Joseph Aloysius Hansom. He was a prolific Victorian architect specialising in ecclesiastic and civic commissions. He also found time to invent the Hansom cab and founded The Builder, a weekly magazine. His most prominent building in London is the Servite Church in the Fulham Road.

St Aloysius himself was born into a rich and aristocratic family near Mantua in 1568. To his father’s consternation he decided to renounce his inheritance and became a Jesuit. He died aged twenty-three after ministering to victims of a plague in Rome.

4 comments

  1. …….and I always thought it was the other way around with the Fathers naming their church after Sebastian’s bear. They do a very good sung latin Mass here on Sundays with all the whistles and bells. The choir’s singing is sublime.

  2. You may be right in your guess on why Archibald Ormsby- Gore became Aloysius in Brideshead Revisited ( I don’t know) but if you are I think the bear may not have relished the Catholic connection – he was, after all, a Strict Baptist. Incidentally his Chistian name came from one of George Robey’s music hall songs and he flew on home made wings over the Berkshire downs ( see Betjeman’s Archie & The Stict Baptists published 1977 ).
    Happy New Year!

  3. I am reminded of Lord Lyell. He was a PUSS in the Northern Ireland Office 84 to 89. During a documentary dealing with weightier matters, he allowed himself to be filmed unpacking at Stormont. On top of his suitcase were at least 5 teddy bears. As a skilled politician, I am sure that if one had been called Aloysius then another would have been Wesley, or perhaps Adams and Paisley.

    1. I seem to remember that he had a prodigious appetite on one occasion having three helpings of bread and butter pudding in the H of L dining room. The seconds and thirds must have been for the teddies.

Comments are closed.