Autobiography of Cuthbert Shields

Scope and Content

Autobiography of Cuthbert Shields, written in five notebooks in the form of letters, 1884-6, to F.A. Clarke, Fellow of Corpus and Edwin Palmer, Archdeacon of Oxford, to explain the conduct which led to his confinement in an asylum in Fulham in 1878 and prolonged travel abroad. The discursive account of his own life is interspersed with reflections on biblical, historical and political subjects.

Administrative / Biographical History

Cuthbert James Shields (1840-1908), formerly Robert Laing, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was a historian.

Access Information

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/specialcollections).

Acquisition Information

The autobiography was bought, with two printed items relating to Shields (monumental inscription and 'In memoriam' reprinted from the Oxford Magazine, MS. Eng. c. 5739, fols. 62-4) from Maggs Bros. Ltd., and given by the Friends of the Bodleian, 1996.

Note

Collection level description created by Emily Tarrant, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

Other Finding Aids

A full description is available in the Library.

Corporate Names