Diary of Anne Elizabeth Fisher, vol IV

This material is held atDowning College Archives, University of Cambridge

  • Reference
    • GB 269 DCPP/AMO/4
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1st Mar 1855 - 11th Sep 1855
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume

Scope and Content

Includes several pressed flowers and small printed cast list of comic opera (in French), with list of books read in 1855 at back. Notable entries include: (21 Mar) Sermon in Church for Fast Day for the [Crimean] War, including reference to [Florence] Nightingale; (28 Mar) French and English fleet going again to the Baltic; (19-20 April) visit of the Emperor and Empress of France, viewed from a shop window close to Somerset House and outside Buckingham Palace the next day, illuminations around London to greet the visitors; (2 May) visit to see Albert Smith's 'Mont Blanc' [at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly]; (3 May) visit to Windsor Castle, with description of the Emperor's and State Apartments; (9 May) visit to the British Museum, including the Library's special collections; (24 May) 'Henry VIII' at the Princess Theatre; (31 May-14 June) return to 'dear old Downing' [College]; (25 June) riots in Hyde Park at proposed Bill in Parliament to restrict traffic and close all shops on Sundays; (11 July) visit to Paris [where Annie was born], including detailed descriptions of her tour of the sights of the city and Versailles, while staying with Eliza [Godefroy]; (16 July) visit to the Exposition; (18-27 August) Queen Victoria's state visit to Paris, including descriptions of several events in her honour and (24 August) visit to the Hotel de Ville and (27 August) in Boulogne; (31 Aug) return to London; (6 Sept) christening of Mary Elizabeth Fisher [daughter of Professor William Webster Fisher at Downing], Annie's goddaughter in Cambridge; (10 Sept) news of the taking of Sebastopol by the allies, which arrived while at Cooke's Circus on Midsummer's Common - read aloud by Professor Fisher.