Martinalia

Welcome to Martinalia. An academic career generates material which for one reason or another does not get into print. There are public lectures and keynote addresses. Some are never intended for publication. Others are commissioned for projects which never get off the ground. There is material prepared for teaching, which may be useful to colleagues and students involved in similar courses. Some projects seem worth sharing with interested readers even though they remain unfinished, lacking the final polish needed for conventional academic publication. Since 2014 I have used Martinalia to publish essays and research reports.

The term “Martinalia” was coined by my friend Jim Sturgis.

A.C. Benson in images

The personality of Arthur Christopher Benson has been conjured and evoked through many thousands of words, his own as well as those of friends and biographers. Photographs have appeared in some of the books by or about him, but usually as silent adjuncts to the creativity of the text. This brief attempt at a photographic essay approaches Benson through the visual theme.

How the banks wooed student customers: Cambridge, 1966

A collage of advertisements by English banks bidding for student customers in 1966 illustrates how banking culture has changed over six decades.

Midlothian 1892: Gladstone loses his temper

Biographers have passed over the incident in which Gladstone lost his temper while campaigning in Midlothian during the 1892 general election.

Bush: the London area origins of an Australian term

In 1974, soon after taking up a research post at the ANU in Canberra, I published a Note on the origin of the distinctive Australian term "bush". [It appeared in Australian Literary Studies, vi (1974), 431-4.] I challenged the conventional explanation that the word was imported from South Africa, pointing instead to a number of place names in the London area which suggested that it would have been familiar to many convicts as a descriptive term. I return to the Note half a century on to review and extend its arguments.

Charles Stewart Parnell, Cambridge University and the fable of Daisy

In 1905, Charles Stewart Parnell's sister claimed that he had been expelled from Cambridge University for seducing a local girl and driving her to suicide. Although the story was nonsense, it lingered throughout the twentieth century.

The Cambridge Arabic Prize, 1917

Although many of its constituent colleges were almost indecently well endowed, the University of Cambridge itself attracted few benefactions in the early twentieth century.

Magdalene College Cambridge in 1964: a reminiscence in photographs

On becoming an undergraduate at Magdalene College Cambridge in October 1964, I took a number of photographs of my surroundings, supplemented by occasional snaps of College scenes during the three years in which I was in residence.

James Stephen on Gladstone, 1846

Between January and September 1846, the distinguished Colonial Office civil servant James Stephen kept a diary in which he recorded reflective and sometimes acerbic comments on events and people. Stephen's brief period as a diarist coincided with William Ewart Gladstone's tenure of office as Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Recollections and reconstructions: accounts of the departure of Charles Stewart Parnell from Cambridge University, 1869

Charles Stewart Parnell left Cambridge in 1869 after becoming involved in a street fight and losing a court case for assault. This essay examines various accounts of the episode, some based on hearsay, others in the form of narrative reconstruction. It seeks to illustrate the challenges involved in assessing these types of historical evidence.

Magdalene College Cambridge Notes: was jugged wallaby served at High Table?

"Wallaby: reserved for the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College." Did such a notice really appear in the window of a Cambridge butcher's shop in 1910?

Martinalia

A.C. Benson in images

How the banks wooed student customers: Cambridge, 1966

Midlothian 1892: Gladstone loses his temper

Bush: the London area origins of an Australian term

Charles Stewart Parnell, Cambridge University and the fable of Daisy

The Cambridge Arabic Prize, 1917

Magdalene College Cambridge in 1964: a reminiscence in photographs

James Stephen on Gladstone, 1846

Recollections and reconstructions: accounts of the departure of Charles Stewart Parnell from Cambridge University, 1869

Magdalene College Cambridge Notes: was jugged wallaby served at High Table?

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