|
This collection of Robert Stephen Hawker (1803-1875), English poet, antiquary, and
Vicar of
Morwenstow, consists of correspondence, reviews, newspaper clippings, material relating
to
Hawker's family history, including wills and birth, marriage, and death certificates,
photographic images, and other miscellaneous items. The collection is arranged in
two
series: I. Correspondence, 1855-1875, and II. Hawker Materials Collected by F. S.
Goard,
1876-1975. |
|
The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters written by Hawker to Mrs. Harriet
Watson, an admirer of Hawker's poetry who donated the money necessary to restore the
roof of
Morwenstow Church. Hawker's letters to Mrs. Watson chronicle his thoughts on theological
and
political matters and his experiences during their fifteen-year correspondence, including
the illness and death of his first wife Charlotte. Mrs. Watson was also likely the
recipient
of the undated and incomplete letters contained in the collection. A smaller portion
of the
correspondence consists of letters from Hawker to Dr. Bewdsley, the doctor who looked
after
Mrs. Watson before her death in 1875. Letters to Hawker from various correspondents
are
present as well. Most notable among the letters to Hawker is a copy, in Hawker's hand,
of a
letter from Alfred Tennyson. |
|
The Hawker materials collected by F. S. Goard provide insight into Hawker's family
history
as well as his life as a poet and vicar. Present in the collected materials are published
reviews of Hawker biographies, including biographies by Sabine Baring-Gould (1876),
F. G.
Lee (1876), Charles Edward Byles (1905), Margaret Florence Burrows (1926), and Piers
Brendon
(1975). Material relating to Hawker's family history included in the collection consists
of
Hawker's will as well as the wills of Pauline Hawker, Hawker's second wife; Mary Stevens,
Pauline Hawker's mother; and Mrs. Watson. Birth, marriage, and death certificates
for a
number of members of Hawker's family are also present. Newspaper clippings collected
by
Goard provide information about the centenary celebrations for Hawker at Morenstow
in August
1975 and the controversy surrounding Hawker's deathbed conversion to Catholicism.
Some of
Hawker's contributions to Notes and Queries are included
in the collection as well as published articles critiquing Hawker's works. |
