John Hunter died in 1793 and was buried in the vaults of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. In 1859, the vaults were required to be cleared and Hunter's coffin was found and his remains were reinterred in Westminster Abbey beneath a memorial brass. In the course of research on several such memorials in a Worcestershire village church, a letter was found that a clerk, having misread the writer's signature, consequently misfiled. Following this lead, it is now possible to tell something not only of the genesis of Weekes's statue of Hunter but also of the making and cost of the brass over his grave.
Oxford dictionary of national biography (hereinafter ODNB), 28, pp. 898–906, is incorrect in saying that Hunter was removed from St Martin-in-the-Fields church ‘for interment in Abbot Islip's chapel’; Hunter's remains rested there until their reinterment. Nor is that chapel ‘on the north side of the nave of Westminster Abbey’; it is north of the North Transept.
2.
ODNB, 8, p. 515.
3.
McHardyG. Brasses in the Church of Our Lady and St Alphonsus, Hanley Swan, Worcestershire. Trans Monumental Brass Soc2015; XIX/2: 131–163.
4.
Birmingham: Library of Birmingham, Wolfson Centre for Archival Research, Hardman archive (hereinafter Birmingham: Hardman archive) MS 175A/4/1/5/2, index of Metalwork (Monumental Brasses) 1843–1867, under letter ‘H’.
5.
HarrisonD.F.N. The mythical “Arms” of John Hunter. J Med Biogr1997; 5: 178–185.
6.
London: Royal College of Surgeons of England (hereinafter RCSEngl.) MS 0253, Hunter Family Album, especially pp. 24–28. Precise reference to a particular item can be difficult to quote.
7.
William Buckland, Frank Buckland’s father, was Dean of Westminster from 1845 until his death in 1856; ODNB, 8, pp 519–522.
8.
Richard Chenevix Trench was Dean of Westminster from 1856 to 1863; ODNB, 55, pp.295–297.
9.
ODNB, 51, pp.676–677.
10.
RCSEngl. MS 0534, Letter 46.
11.
RCSEngl. MS 0035/1 Frank Buckland's Commonplace Book, fol.185.
12.
ODNB, 42, pp. 245–254.
13.
Henry Hunt Milman was Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, London from 1849 until his death in 1868; ODNB, 38, pp. 279–281.
14.
ODNB, 23, pp. 519–521.
15.
London: Westminster Abbey Muniments (hereinafter Westminster Abbey) MS OC/08/01/001.
16.
RCSEngl.MS 0534, Letter 54; RCSEngl. MSRCS-FIN/9/3 shows that the ‘Faculty for removal of remains’ cost £6 7s 6d and was obtained through Glennie & Farquhar, who were paid by the College against Voucher No.26 during the Quarter ended Lady Day [25 March] 1859.
17.
RCSEngl. MS 0534, Letter 54.
18.
RCSEngl. MS 0253.
19.
The Post Office London Directory 1859, p.882, lists Robert Kilby Burstall as Builder and vestry surveyor (St Martin in the Fields) of 15 Hanover Street and Castle Street, Longacre, W.C.
20.
RCSEngl. MS RCS-FIN/9/3 shows that the payment was made against Voucher No.27 during the Quarter ended Lady Day [25 March] 1859.
21.
Westminster Abbey: Funeral [fees] Book 1811–1899, p.189.
22.
RCSEngl. MS 0253.
23.
£1172 17s 1d; see Gordon-Taylor G. The centenary of the re-interment of John Hunter. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1959; 24: 257–259, where on p.258 the blank admission ticket No.584 is reproduced from RCSEngl. MS0253.
24.
ODNB, 57, pp. 934–935; his diploma work following his election as a Royal Academician in 1863 was a bust of Green, the College's President.
25.
Frank Buckland's note dated 7 June 1860 in RCSEngl. MS 0035/1, fol.185.
26.
DobsonJ. John Hunter's Statue. Ann R Coll Surg Engl1959; 24: 209.
27.
ODNB, 45, pp. 520–525; Hill R. God's architect: Pugin and the building of Romantic Britain. London: Allen Lane, 2007, is perhaps the best single book on his life and work.
28.
ODNB, 25, pp. 189–190.
29.
ODNB, 25, pp.190–191; Fisher M. Guarding the Pugin Flame: John Hardman Powell 1827–1895. Salisbury: Spire Books, 2017, appeared as I was finishing this paper, too late unfortunately to be made use of.
30.
The record rubbings (including presumably that of Hunter's brass) have been unavailable for inspection for the last couple of years. Hunter's rubbing I would expect to have the reference MB1860/00, where 00 is the next number in the series of rubbings of brasses made that year.
31.
RCSEngl. MS 0243 has the cutting with ‘Wilkie’ corrected to ‘Wilson’ in an evidently 19th-century hand. The mistake has often been repeated, for example as recently as 1997 by Harrison, op. cit., ref. 5, p. 180. David Wilkie, the painter (1785–1841), in fact died at sea and was buried in the Bay of Gibraltar; ODNB, 58, pp.965–970.
32.
Edward Trimmer (1827–1904) later served as Secretary of the College from 1865 to 1901.
33.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/4/4/296C. All 850-odd bundles of incoming ‘Metal letters’ in the archive have the same lengthy type of reference, only the final element of which indicates the particular bundle. Instead of the usual superscript number directing to a footnote giving the full reference, I have for brevity and, I hope, ease of reading, preferred where appropriate to give directly, in square brackets, the bundle number, here 296C.
34.
John Britton FSA (1771–1857), antiquary, topographer and entrepreneur, was born in Wiltshire and had been buried in West Norwood cemetery, London; ODNB, 7, pp.713–715.
35.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/1/3/2, Brass Estimate Book, p.65. The prices are translated from Hardmans' letter-code as given in Fisher M. Hardman of Birmingham: Goldsmith and Glasspainter. Ashbourne: Landmark Publishing, 2008, in Appendix A, p. 216.
36.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/2/1/4, Brass Order Book, p. 61.
37.
Albert William Woods had been appointed Lancaster Herald in 1841; ODNB, 60, pp.210–211. There are no papers of Woods at the College of Heralds to shed further light on his involvement in the Hardman brass.
38.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/4/4/311B. When he wrote on 6 September [ibid., 311A], Stone had ‘just’ sent notices to The Times, Daily News, Lancet and British Medical Journal. So far as it has been possible to check, there is no evidence that any of the titles noticed Hardmans in their pages.
39.
John J. Heath, of 2 Camden Street (Parade), Birmingham, was one of HArdman's specialist engravers.
40.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/1/3/2, Brass Estimate Book, p. 91.
41.
Stephen Thompson, of 13 King Street, Strand, was Hardmans' London Agent from 1857.
42.
Isaac Ryde (1795–1886) was Clerk of Works at the Abbey from 1848 to 1863.
43.
The four letters referred to in this paragraph are all to be found in Birmingham: Hardmann archive MS 175A/4/4/4/311A.
44.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/4/1/3/2, Brass Estimate Book, p. 93.
45.
See, for example, the correspondence between Dean Milman and Richard Owen referred to by Harrison, op. cit., ref. 5, p. 183.
46.
Birmingham: Hardman archive MS 175A/3/3/1/7, Metal Sales Ledger, p. 330.
47.
RCSEngl. MS RCS-FIN/9/3, Quarterly Account Book, vol.4.
48.
RCSEngl. MS RCS-FIN/2/2, Committee of Auditors Minute Book, vol.II.
