The volumes contain copies of monumental inscriptions in Salisbury Cathedral, including transcripts of text, drawings and rubbings of images (predominantly coats of arms etc.), and postcards showing photographs of the monuments. Baker notes the location of each monument, and also provides a list of the monuments which were listed by 'Harris' [James Harris, Copies of the epitaphs in Salisbury Cathedral, cloisters, and cemetery, 1825] and 'Price' [Francis Price, A description of that admirable structure, the cathedral church of Salisbury: with the chapels, monuments, grave-stones, and their inscriptions, 1774] but which have since disappeared. Both volumes are indexed by name.
Monumental Inscriptions from Salisbury Cathedral
This material is held atUniversity of Manchester Library
- Reference
- GB 133 Eng MS 137
- Dates of Creation
- 1903
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English and Latin
- Physical Description
- 325 x 204 mm. 2 volumes (127 folios and 55 folios);
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Thomas Henry Baker (1833-1914) was born in Charlton Horethorne in Somerset but spent most of his adult life at Mere, just over the border in Wiltshire, where he farmed over 1,000 acres, employing twenty men and six boys in 1861. He was a keen local historian, who made extensive collections of monumental inscriptions within Somerset and Wiltshire. He published several works, including: Records of the seasons, prices of agricultural produce, and phenomena observed in the British Isles (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1883); and Notes on St Martin's church and parish (Salisbury: Brown, 1906); and he jointly edited with W.P.W. Phillimore and John Sadler volume 9 of Wiltshire parish registers: marriages (London: Phillimore, 1910). See also Patricia Westwood (ed.), Some Wessex memories: from the writings of Thomas Henry Baker, 1833-1914 (Southampton: P.E. Westwood, [2000?]).
Access Information
The collection is available for consultation by any accredited reader.
Acquisition Information
Purchased by the John Rylands Library from Poole and Pemberton in May 1916.
Note
Description compiled by Henry Sullivan, project archivist, and John Hodgson, Keeper of Manuscripts and Archives, with reference to the online Census records for 1861, 1881 and 1891.
Other Finding Aids
Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1928 (English MS 137).