Special Collections & Archives

Snapshot from the Archives: John Ruskin and Whitelands College (by Gemma Bentley, Whitelands Archivist)

John Ruskin’s gifts to Whitelands College

Thursday 8^th February marks the 205^th birthday of John Ruskin, an eminent Victorian artist, critic, and progressive social theorist who was a good friend to Whitelands College. He is described by the Ruskin Museum as a social revolutionary and ‘one of the great visionaries of the 19th century,’ so we are fortunate that he included a keen interest in the College amongst his myriad pursuits. His attention was drawn through the efforts of John Faunthorpe, Whitelands’ principal from 1877, and resulted in Ruskin donating a plethora of valuable books, paintings and artefacts to the College, as well as initiating our annual May Day festival with its crowning of the May Queen (now May Monarch).

He also introduced William Morris, leader of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the eminent Pre-Raphaelite artist, to the college. Together they designed artefacts for the newly erected College Chapel, the most notable being the exquisite Burne-Jones stained glass windows and the William Morris reredos. These have been preserved at the current Whitelands campus and can be enjoyed by all who attend or visit Parkstead House.

Ruskin wrote in 1881 (see below): ‘I’ve been looking through my books to find some more that would be nice for Whitelands…. partly because I am ashamed to have pretty books and never use them, and practically I find that nearly all my books get mildewed on my shelves for want of use.’ 

Clearly, he did not intend these items to be kept hidden away in boxes, so we are glad to showcase some of them here. The whole collection is available to be viewed by appointment at Whitelands College Archive.

Der Kinderengel, Richter and Peschel

When sending Der Kinderengel to the College, Ruskin wrote: ‘Today I send you the Child book for general lying about on tables – never anything more heavenly has been sent down to earth since Angelico.’ His letter is pasted into the book’s endpaper.

Virgil’s Ænis, translated into Scottish Verse by Professor Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, 1710

Ruskin wrote: ‘I have sent a book to Whitelands, which, if they could study every word of (I doubt not their willingness) would be an education better than any living queen’s.’

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary

The two first edition volumes of A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, published in 1755, are very popular now, not least with fans of TV series Blackadder the Third!

Gould’s Birds of New Guinea, 1875

‘I send you a box to-day containing parts 1-10 and part 12 of Gould’s Birds of New Guinea. They may serve to astonish some of your little birds, and are only in my way here…..’

DESCRIPTIONES ET ICONES PLANTARUM RARIORUM HUNGARIÆ, Waldstein and Kitaibel, 1802

Ruskin’s letter (also quoted above) to the first May Queen, Ellen Osborne, 24 November 1881, reads more fully:

'MY DEAR QUEEN It’s very nice getting these pretty letters of thanks, with a little love at the end of each, which one can save up and keep, and it will make ever so much in time, won’t it?

I’ve been looking through my books to find some more that would be nice for Whitelands, partly to get another letter! And partly because I am ashamed to have pretty books and never use them, and practically I find that nearly all my books get mildewed on my shelves for want of use. I hope one that I’m sending is pretty safe, for it has always been near me, that’s next to the fire too, in my study – the Hungarian Noble’s book on the wild plants of Hungary. It is done like a gentleman, and there is a certain old Dresden China look about its covers which one doesn’t get nowadays! Also the plates are so well yet so simply drawn that they may almost seem for standards of right botanical drawing, and may be copied with extreme advantage…..’

Serrurerie du Moyen-Age et de la Renaissance, I. H. de Hefner-Alteneck

Many of the books given by Ruskin to the college are full of his marginalia notes and comments. Some are trenchant: in this volume an annotation reads: ‘Note generally that the compiler of this book was an ass.’ 

The Ruskin Cabinet

Sixty pictures in a specially made cabinet were presented in 1883. Ruskin’s idea was that a student could select and study a picture, along with the accompanying notes (considered a supremely suitable recreational pastime!). The cabinet includes four examples of the work of the engraver Ludwig Richter, two from the work of Albert Dürer, and the remaining works are ‘perfect and exquisite’ copies of Turner’s watercolour drawings.

May Queen crosses

From 1881 until his death, Ruskin gave each annually elected May Queen a unique cross and a complete set of his works. This ornate cross, with hawthorn leaves and flowers delicately crafted in gold, was designed by Mrs Joan Severn, Ruskin’s cousin. Mrs Severn represented Ruskin at the ceremony, and presented the cross to the 1882 May Queen, Queen Gertrude. Ruskin himself never attended a Whitelands May Day.

Gold nobles

Three gold coins of Edward III, alleged to have been struck in memory of the Battle of Sluys, 1340

Ruskin wrote to Faunthorpe: ‘In case I haven’t time to write tomorrow you will, I hope, receive on Wednesday a really valuable gift for the school, the Noble, Half Noble, and Quarter Noble of Edward III; only mind they’re not to ‘buy what you want with,’ or whatever you say is the use of such things!’

Missing items

Unfortunately, some of Ruskin’s gifts have been lost over time, including ‘A Collection of ten fine specimens of Agate’ and ‘An Arabic volume in silken satchel, with gold cord, the margins of every page profusely ornamented in work of scroll and gold.’ [The School Guardian Dec 10, 1881].  Of this, in December 1881 Ruskin wrote: ‘[I am sending a book] I don’t know what, for I can’t read it, and don’t know even its right way upwards! So I am ashamed to have it among my books any more but I think with its pretty silken cover, binding and all, it is just the thing to show your girls what sort of a thing a Book should be.’

The 1833 Quran was still in the collection in 1985 at least, but had mysteriously disappeared by 1995.

Read more about Whiteland’s history and its May Day tradition.  To visit, please contact wcarchives@roehampton.ac.uk

You can find out more on John Ruskin through the Ruskin Museum and the Ruskin Society.