 | Lady Layard’s Journal Go to a Date Search the Journal |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |
11 June 1891 — 1 Queen Anne Street | |
Thursday. 11th June [1891]. I woke with a headache & tho’ able to get up I was not able to do much all the morning & was resting on the sofa when my sister Maria came in for a chat & said her daughter Ola was coming back today from Venice as Alice & Hallam had gone to Aix. Ola came back with a maid of Miss Brownings who was being sent home. We lunched at 1 & at 3 Henry & I drove to the British Museum to see an interesting ceremony. Sir Wm Gregory had long been thinking that something ought to be done to mark the feeling of the country towards Henry as regarded his discoveries at Nineveh & he therefore proposed to some of intimate & distinguished friends to purchase a bust of him & present it to the authorities of the British Museum to be placed in the building. It happened that 3 years ago Boehm the sculptor had taken a fancy to make a bust of him & asked Henry to sit– So as soon as Sir Wm had set a subscription on foot he went to Boehm & arranged that a copy in marble should be made of the terra cotta one. A few days after Sir Wm had seen Boehm & arranged this the sculptor died suddenly. However his foreman understood to carry out the arrangement under the supervision or final criticism of Gilbert the sculptor & today the ceremony of presenting the bust to the authorities of the Brit. Museum took place in our presence. A great many of our friends the subscribers were present such as Lord Aberdare, Lord Carlisle, Alma Tadema, Poynter, G. Dennis, Sir Hy Thompson, Lecky, Philip Hardwick, &c &c & of the Brit. Museum authorities, Sydney Colvin, Maunde Thompson, Poole, Pinches, &c &c. Lord Arthur Russell addressed the assembled company. We met in the Board Room, chairs were placed in a semi circle & Henry & I were placed on chairs a little in advance of it. The bust was placed between two windows & covered with a cloth. After a very kind & complimentary speech in wh Lord Arthur formally presented the bust to the Trustees of the Brit. Museum a short speech was made by Mr Fortnum representing the Trustees & accepting the gift in the most flattering terms as regards Henry. He Henry made then a neat & appropriate return & his voice trembled with emotion [as] he is really touched at the honor so unexpected & long deferred– Then Lord Arthur presented me with an album containing one of the most precious of things—the autographic letters of all the subscribers—nearly each one of wh was a eulogy of Henry’s talents. The book is beautifully bound & decorated with Assyrian designs. I am also promised a small terra cotta reproduction of the bust for my own self. Their speeches being over the company dispersed & we were shown the spot in the hall where the bust is to stand when the cleaning & decorating now going on shall be finished. We took Sir Wm down in our carriage to his house & then to the park to the chemist to get a draught for my headache. Sir Henry Thompson kindly having written me a prescription for it at the Museum—but all in vain! I had to go to bed soon after I got home. Maria came to see us & hear how all had gone off. Henry would not let any of the family go to the ceremony & said he “hated a fuss.” | |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |