FRATERNITY OF ST. BARBARA

Statutes of the Fraternity of Saint Barbara with the beadroll and ordinances of the ancient guild. 1815'. The ancient fraternity or guild of St. Barbara in the church of St. Katherine by the Tower, London, was revived in 1813 as a society concerned to improve knowledge through academic papers, mainly of an antiquarian nature. Its first patron was Revd. Robert Nixon. It had a library and met at the house of Daniel Benham and that of Robert Nixon in Burr Street, Smithfield, London. The members, mostly contemporaries at Cambridge, included James Jenkins, Samuel Prosser, John Bathurst Deane, Samuel James Allen, Richard Hill, James Gomme and James Burleigh. f. 1r. Presentation inscription. f. 2r. Title page. f. 3r-v. Statutes of the original fraternity or guild of St. Barbara in the church of St. Katherine by the Tower, London, 1 Dec. 1518. With watercolours of the arms of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, set between a Tudor rose and a pomegranate. Printed by Jamieson, pp. 49-50. f. 4r. Blank. f. 4v-5r. Beadroll of the original fraternity or guild of St. Barbara, beginning with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon; Mary, sister of Henry VIII and dowager Queen of France; and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. ff. 5v-6v. Blank. f. 7r. 'Fraternity of Saint Barbara'. An account of the re-foundation of the fraternity, beginning: 'We the undersigned being desirous of associating ourselves for our improvement in general knowledge by means of friendly communications...'. Signed at St. Katherine by the Tower by Michael Prendergast, Daniel Benham, John Bathurst Deane and Samuel James Allen, 14 Dec. 1813. With a watercour of a coat of arms including the wheel of St. Katherine and the motto 'vires acquirit eundo'. f. 7v. Blank. ff. 8r-25v. 'Statutes of the Fraternity of Saint Barbara'. Statutes of the revived fraternity. c.1815, with footnotes recording changes agreed in 1817. ff. 26r-27r. Blank. f. 27v. Signatures of members pledging obedience to the statutes. Signed by Robert Nixon, Michael Prendergast, Daniel Benham, John Bathurst Deane, Samuel James Allen, Richard Hill and twelve others. ff. 28-39. Blank.

Two volumes of communications and addresses to the Fraternity on antiquarian subjects 1815-18, illustrated with watercolours, sketches etc is held by Stanford University Libraries.

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