31 July 2020 seems an age ago. In terms of how the World has changed in that time it was. One of the things that I have missed most during the pandemic has been visiting archives. It is not simply the joy of research but the single-minded peace of it. With dehumidifiers roaring away in my study for weeks, the peace of an archive has been even more alluring.
Thus, it was with huge joy that I was finally able to schedule a visit to the Wolfson Centre for Archival Research at the Library of Birmingham this week. You may recall that I discovered some more Bowry family papers there shortly after the end of our first lockdown: https://captainthomasbowrey.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/bowry-family-papers-in-birmingham/ Archives were still closed and vaccination was still in the future.
On Wednesday, I waiting eagerly for the library to open. I was well prepared, clutching my two proofs of identity, having made my application for one of the new archive cards online in advance. My table had already been allocated and the folder containing the batch of documents was sitting waiting.
First, though, I asked if there was any information about the acquisition of the papers in addition to what was available in the online catalogue. I really should have guessed. Similarly to the Essex papers, there was less information than is usual about the Bowry Family Papers. They did not even have a record of when they were acquired.
The folder held just six items: three small pieces of paper [tha largest less that A5 size], a folded paper with a tiny seal attached by tape and two roughly A5-sized booklets [one bound traditionally and one stitched] without covers.
I started with item six, the paper relating to the bill of lading. It had been signed by Bowrey but most of the signature was missing. The corner had been torn off. Whoever catalogued the item is unlikely to have recognised the signature unless they were as familiar with it as I am. The remaining item appeared to be in a much earlier had that I did not recognised as Philip Gardiner’s. [Gardiner was Bowrey’s father-in-law and the only person in Bowrey’s known circle who wrote with a similar, difficult to read archaic hand.] Item one, the copy of lectures by Master Wyet in the Statute of Merton in the stitched booklet, was dated 1565. The remaining items could have been of a similar date. Regrettably, the commonplace book did not yield any of the clues to its origin I had hoped.
Although items one to five may have been connected to Thomas Bowrey’s family, there was nothing beyond the catalogue entry to suggest this. The most likely explanation for the source of these manuscripts is John Humphreys, the president of the Birmingham Archaeological Society at the time the Bowrey papers were discovered in the attic at Cleeve Prior. He was the person who identified the original owner of the papers and may have retained one document. Perhaps, after his death, the bill of lading was discovered with five other unrelated documents and passed to a suitable repository, eventually ending up at the Wolfson Centre.
It would have been wonderful to have made an exciting find that added to my understanding of Thomas Bowrey’s family but it was not to be. Am I disappointed? No. It was just so nice to be back in an archive again. The [relatively] new Library of Birmingham was impressive, and I can tick off returning to public transport again after so long.