Simon Dixon
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Eric Henry Janson Teasdale (1896-1917)
21st January 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the death in action of Lieutenant Eric Henry Janson Teasdale, who at the age of just twenty gave his life during the First World War. Guest post by Sedtin Wan (Development and Alumni Relations Office). Eric Henry Janson Teasdale, Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion serving in the Machine […]
Mapping Vanished Leicester
One of our Special Collections Online that has always fascinated me is a collection of photographs of “Vanished Leicester” taken by Dennis Calow, a (now retired) architect who lived and worked in Leicester. Writing a decade ago, Dennis remembered that as an architectural student he, like most of his generation, had been ‘brainwashed into believing that everything […]
Arthur Edward Davis (1882-1916)
“Mr Davis was educated at Mill Hill School, London. He became a cricketer of distinction and played for Leicestershire. In the great War he joined as a Private the 11th Royal Fusiliers and served in France, where he was killed in 1916”. [ULA HIS/FOU/2, Memorial Portraits Book] As described in a previous post, the University […]
Garth Smithies Taylor (1896-1916)
15 October 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the death in action of Lieutenant Garth Smithies Taylor, a name which many staff and students at the University will have unwittingly passed on numerous occasions when entering the Fielding Johnson Building. The following account of Taylor’s life, death and significance to the University was researched and […]
Finding Dolly Shepherd in Historical Directories
We were recently contacted by Debra Wallace, who had used our Historical Directories collection to help research the life of Dolly Shepherd (1886-1983), an Edwardian Lady Parachutist. I found Debra’s account of Dolly’s life so fascinating that I asked to share it on the Special Collections Blog. I’m very grateful to Debra for agreeing to […]
“We must celebrate”: England’s World Cup win 50 years on
On 30 July 1966 England won the World Cup. Fifty years since that momentous occasion Special Collections Assistant Ian Swirles has located some images and cuttings from the Leicester Mercury Archive held by the University Library. Leicester City had one representative in the World Cup winning team, that individual was Gordon Banks who was […]
Don’t panic, Mary Berry’s Bakewell tart recipe is safe!
It is almost impossible to conduct academic research today without at some stage needing to access information on the internet. For this reason, many researchers will have had experience of consulting websites containing valuable evidence that are there one week and gone the next. The fragile nature of web content has been in the headlines […]
Glimpses of the young David Attenborough in the University Archives
It’s well known that David and Richard Attenborough, along with their brother John, spent part of their early lives living on the campus of what was then University College, Leicester. There are stories of Richard locking David in one of the padded cells that remained in the Fielding Johnson Building from when it was a […]
Photo Gallery: Queen Elizabeth II opens the Percy Gee Building, 1958
Since today is Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, Special Collections Assistant Ian Swirles has been searching the University Archives for photographs of Her Majesty visiting the University. Among the highlights are a series of images from May 1958, taken when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were on campus to open the Percy Gee Building. […]
Lifting and Heaving: An Easter Custom
For all the Easter traditions that have been passed down to us over the centuries, there are a few that are have fallen by the wayside. Writing on the subject of “Ancient Customs” in the July 1783 issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine, the correspondent H.T. noted, A custom, which ought to be abolished as improper […]
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