I share some of the same interests and initials as CB. He is a Victorian, a Norfolk man, no fool; he went to St John’s Cambridge (BA) and Trinity Oxford (MA).
He was ordained, often the top of a slippery slope, an archaeologist, antiquary and writer. While acting as Hon (!) Secretary of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society his dainty fingers were found in the till. The unsuspecting Surrey Archaeological Society took him on and he was a recidivist. Nothing for it. He was imprisoned for debt in 1868 and declared bankrupt. I hate to drag his name through the mud because his 1863 book on heraldry is still in print and indispensable. He called it A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular. My edition honours the author: Boutell’s Heraldry, a 21st birthday present from my cousin, the Triple Grandmother.
I was given many generous presents when I was growing up and inevitably many of them have fallen by the wayside. Boutell’s Heraldry and Burke’s Guide to Country Houses, Volume I: Ireland are exceptions. The latter was a present from my perspicacious uncle, father of the TG. I bought an up to date – well 1977 – Brewer’s at Oxfam today and have to make space for it. Out goes The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes , a fortieth birthday present from a member of the Jockey Club. She inscribed it “to help you fill your CD rack.” The rack has long gone. Our CDs, Robert has a penchant for Frank Sinatra, are housed in bookcases now. They too will soon be glitter-bangs on allotments as we migrate to downloading music. I don’t suppose anybody under the age of forty knows what a glitter-bang was but you, dear elderly reader, do. Glitter-bangs and DDT; two essential bits of kit in the kitchen garden at Barmeath in my childhood. Other indispensables were anthracite on the paths to discourage weeds and a flame thrower if that didn’t work.