Margaret Pilkington: ‘Queen of Arts’

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Central School of Arts and Crafts, Lawrence Pilkington, Manchester, Manchester Luncheon Club, Margaret Pilkington, Noel Rooke, Red rose Guild, Rylands Gallery, Slade School of Art, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Watercolour, Wood engraving, WW1, WW2

Written by Angela Petyt-Whittaker and Lorraine Coughlan, Specialist Library Assistants from the Reading Room at The John Rylands Library.

Have you been to see the latest displays in the Rylands Gallery? We’ve had the pleasure of guest curating the two Manchester cases and are pleased to say we chose a fascinating subject in Margaret Pilkington (1891-1974) – a creative, innovative and generous woman, who had an influential impact on Manchester culture and charity. This blog gives us the opportunity to tell Margaret’s story in more detail.

During our research we discovered that Margaret was involved with many more roles than we at first realised! We found so much information in her archive (held here at John Rylands Library) that it was difficult to know what items to include and what to leave out, as the number of items per case and the word length of captions were limited. We were greatly inspired by Margaret and her family’s love of art and philanthropy – therefore we decided to divide the cases into these two themes.

Margaret was a talented and recognised artist in her own right, working in watercolour, ink and pencil. The archive contains several of her sketchbooks filled during her many travels in Europe, particularly in Alpine areas.

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Encouraged by her school headmistress, Margaret went on to study at Manchester College of Art. In 1913, initially without her parents’ consent, she attended Slade School of Fine Art to study painting. The following year, she enrolled in the Central School of Arts and Crafts to study wood engraving with Noel Rooke. She went on to produce over 100 wood engravings, many of which were used to illustrate books, some written by her father Lawrence.

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However, her art education was cut short by World War 1. During this traumatic time, Margaret felt her priorities lay in welfare duties rather than her artistic career. She became involved with girls’ clubs in the poorer local areas. She was also honorary secretary of the newly established Pioneer Club for business and professional young women in Manchester. These activities took up a large amount of her time and this social conscience influenced her daily routine for the rest of her life.

Pioneer Club presentation. Margaret Pilkington is in the audience. c1917 PIL/3/1/6/6

In 1920, inspired by the work of William Morris, Margaret organised an exhibition of wood engravers, which evolved into the Red Rose Guild. She was heavily involved with this group of talented artisans, including serving as chairman from 1952 until 1967. She also found time to be a member of Manchester City Art Galleries from 1925 and then became president of the NW Federation of Museums and Art Galleries from 1945. The Whitworth Art Gallery invited her in 1925 to join their council, beginning a long-standing and dedicated relationship. By 1936, Margaret stepped in when the Whitworth suffered financial and staffing problems, by proposing a rescue plan which saw her take on the role of honorary director, a post she held with distinction for over 22 years. This included supporting the gallery financially and donating works of art. Margaret felt that art should not be the preserve of the rich, working tirelessly to promote accessibility to art for everyone.

The outbreak of World War 2 brought more challenges for Margaret – firstly she oversaw the movement of many of the Whitworth’s works of art to safe storage in the National Library of Wales. She was also pivotal in establishing a rest centre in the Whitworth’s cellars to shelter those made homeless by the Manchester blitz, personally caring for those who had suffered.

In recognition of Margaret’s many achievements, she was awarded an honorary MA from the University of Manchester in 1942 and an OBE in 1956. In 1953, the Friends of the Whitworth (which she had founded to support gallery activities) commissioned a portrait of Margaret from Sir Stanley Spencer. In addition, when the Whitworth was refurbished in the mid-1960s, a new exhibition room was named after her.

Official photograph commemorating Margaret’s honorary MA degree, 1942 PIL/3/1/6/10

In her later years, Margaret continued to be heavily involved with Manchester’s cultural scene, including serving as first woman president of both the Manchester Luncheon Club (1963-4) and Manchester Lit and Phil (1964-5). For her 80th birthday in 1971 an anonymous musical ode was penned in her honour, which celebrated Margaret’s remarkable life and achievements.

Birthday ode – musical score and words (two images), 1971. PIL/3/1/6/17

 

We have really enjoyed investigating some of Margaret Pilkington’s fascinating accomplishments for the exhibition – so much so, look out for our next blog, which will focus on her equally talented family and their life together. Watch this space!

All images unless otherwise stated are copyright of the University of Manchester and can be used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike Licence. With thanks to the Imaging Team.

Photos of Women’s War Work 1914 – 1919

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Arthur Reavil, Photographs, Photography, Railways, Women's Forestry Section, Women's Land Army, Women's War Work, WW1

Hot on the heels of the Bedford Lemere and Roger Fenton photograph albums becoming available via The Library Catalogue (and Luna) we are pleased to announce that an album of photographs by Arthur Reavil detailing Women’s War Work 1914 – 1919 will now be accessible on Library Search too.

Railway Workers VPH.5.13 and 23

This album contains 164 photographs which portray a significant and detailed account of women’s working lives during the First World War.  The images show women fulfilling roles traditionally associated with men, such as Signal Lamp Cleaners, Bus Mechanics, Police Women and Oxy-acetylene welders.  The outfits and uniforms are meticulously recorded, sometimes with surprising detail.  For example the London Bridge Porter who is smartly dressed in a uniform resembling that of a housemaid, but quite strangely, she is wearing small heels in spite of the physical nature the job!

Bill Posters at the Metropolitan Railway, VPH.5.50

There is a sequence of images from rural settings showing The Women’s Land Army. These photos show women working on farms hay baling, feeding calves, milking, hop picking and working as foresters.  In more urban surrounds there are a group of photographs where women are shown delivering cakes, driving and maintaining the fleet of vehicles for J.Lyons Catering Company.

Women’s Forestry Section – Handling Pit Props VPH.5.148

A large proportion of the album is dedicated to those women working on the Railways in a variety of roles. These included ticket collectors, porters and my favourite a ‘travelling library attendant’.  The index details the specific location and Railway Company, so it is clear to see that women were utilised in these rail roles across the country.

Shell Makers from North Cheshire VPH.5.104

There is limited information about Arthur Reavil, the photographer, to be found.  It is known that his photographic subject of choice was locomotives, he gave a lecture to the Royal Photographic Society in November 1926 entitled ‘The Photography of locomotives and trains in motion’,  so maybe it is unsurprising that so many of these images are based around trains and railways.  We can only surmise what his views would have been on having women taking on these railway roles.  The National Railway Museum holds a significant collection of Reavil’s negatives, featuring French, German, Dutch and Swiss locomotives from the 1920s.

Additional blog posts will announce when further material from the Visual Collections photography collection is available, including photographs by Francis Frith of Manchester, but meanwhile, follow Library Tammy on IG for updates on what goes on in the Visual Collections office here are The John Rylands Library.

Neurosurgery & Long-term Medical Effects of WWI

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#histmed, History of medicine, Neurosurgery, World War I, WW1

The case files of neurosurgeon Geoffrey Jefferson survive for patients admitted between 1927 and 1940 and inevitably a number of his patients were soldiers during World War One, and in one case the Boer War. Despite dating from over a decade after Armistice Day the effects of the war tend to play a part in these individual’s medical histories, some much more than others. Very often reference to a patient’s military past is brief and simply part of a thorough medical history, however there are a handful of patients who were still suffering the direct after-effects of their injuries many years later.

Jefferson himself was a member of the RAMC during World War One and spent time working as chief surgeon to the Anglo-Russian Hospital in Petrograd before heading to the 14^th General Hospital of the British Expeditionary Force in Boulogne, France as surgical specialist. He published a number of articles relating to his time in the RAMC largely relating to gunshot wounds to the head.

Examples of war injuries from Jefferson’s patient files include:

Head Injuries

Both patients 1928/7 and 1935/168 had received direct injuries to the head during the war which were believed to be the cause of their subsequent attacks of epileptiform fits. The former had received a gunshot wound to the temple whilst the latter had been injured by a hand grenade, small fragments of which could still be identified in the patient’s head on x-ray examination in 1953. There a number of patients amongst Jefferson’s case files that developed seizure disorders as a result of traumatic head injuries and very often little could be done surgically to treat them.  Patient 1935/168 was one such case and was discharged home in status quo and treated medically and his seizures ceased naturally about three years later. Patient 1928/7, however, developed an abscess in the right temporal region and following surgical efforts to drain the abscess died in December 1928.

V0047844 WWI: face of soldier suffering effects of gas poisoning Credit: Wellcome Library Copyrighted work available under CC BY 4.0

Gas Poisoning

In September 1933 patient 1933/115 came under the care of Jefferson owing to a metastatic cerebral abscess. Central to this man’s condition was the bronchiectasis (disease of the lungs) he had suffered from since being gassed in the army. His condition quickly deteriorated and a post mortem examination confirmed the diagnosis and also identified multiple abscesses in the right lung.

Strangely the medical effects of toxic gases, and particularly mustard gas, went full circle following World War Two. Manchester haematologist John Frederick Wilkinson worked closely with workers in the toxic gas factories during World War Two and his observations contributed to his work on the development of chemotherapy utilising nitrogen mustards to treat leukaemia. More information on his work can be found amongst his research papers also housed at the University of Manchester Library.

Shell Shock

Patient 1934/110 had been demobilised from the army in 1918 suffering from deafness and shell shock and was still receiving a pension as a result of this when he came to see Jefferson in 1934. A few months before his admission his condition deteriorated significantly with alteration in behaviour and severe lapses of memory. His wife reported that he would sit in a chair doing nothing and when asked what was wrong replied “my head is going wrong”. He only remained an inpatient under Jefferson for a couple of days and no treatment was recorded during this period and he was discharged as suffering from cerebral degeneration complicated by syphilitic periarteritis.

Patient 1937/151 JCN/12/138

Phantom Limbs

Whilst with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1916 patient 1937/151’s left leg was blown off during a battle on the Somme and was amputated shortly afterwards. The patient reported that he was still able to feel his left foot immediately after the operation but was not troubled by pain. By the time he saw Jefferson in 1937 he had been experiencing regular episodes of extreme pain in his phantom limb, which had led him to contemplate suicide. A surgical root section of nerves affecting the pain pathways to the limb, or cordotomy, was performed after which his pain subsided, although he was still aware of the presence of the limb. At first considered a success, a return of the patient’s pain was regrettably reported only a few months after his discharge.

See an earlier posting by Dr Rebecca Wynter for further information about Jefferson’s involvement with phantom limbs during WWI.

In conjunction with Jefferson’s personal papers relating to his work during WWI (including his time in Russia and research into amputations) and the works and publications of many of his contemporaries it is possible to gain an insight into the methods employed to treat war injuries, the medical research they informed, and how this influenced developments in the practice of medicine.

Keepsakes and Remembrance

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Commemorations, Iron Duke, Jumbo, Photographs, Remembrance Sunday, WW1

With our thoughts still on commemorations for Remembrance Sunday we have had a poignant find on our shelves of uncatalogued material, 2 boxes labelled as WW1 Memorabilia, which reveal stories of local men from the Military and their families.

The first box contains a small Bible, a copy of The Wembley Torchlight Tattoo Magazine, a small painting of a daffodil signed and dated as a piece of school work and most significantly a collection of personal photographs placed in a McVities Digestive Tin. The tin contains a mixture of postcards and photographs, a few snap shots of family and then many images of the HMS Iron Duke and the life of the sailors on board.

 

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HMS Iron Duke was a dreadnought battleship, the lead ship of her class, named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.  She was built at Portsmouth Dockyard and her keel laid on January 1912.  Launched ten months later, she was commissioned into the Home Fleet in March 1914 as the fleet flagship.  Iron Duke served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet during the First World War, including the Battle of Jutland.

Photographs of unknown persons in handmade frames, from the WW1 Memorabilia Box.

The images include the sailors exercising on board, a visit from the King and a fabulous shot of Jumbo, the ship’s mascot. On the reverse of the card it states that the dog was presented to the crew by Mrs Pearson, [the famous actress?]. Alongside the biscuit box are 3 home-made frames for small photographs, we can only surmise who they might be, presumably family, and who made the frames for the sailor on board the ship.

 

Teeth shield and shrapnel

The second box highlights the tremendous challenges faced by the military men on their return and one can only wonder at the impact it had on them and their families. It seems rather detached to refer to these items as ephemera as we will do when they have been catalogued. These objects have been reverentially stored and given significance to by the family who saved them in perpetuity; they still have such an impact and resonance on us today. These are a small piece of shrapnel and a rather macabre teeth shield. The donation note reads:

Material relating to my father, who served with the West Yorkshire Regiment.  He sustained shrapnel injuries and was hospitalised.  Part of the shrapnel was removed (enclosed), but some was too near the brain and left. In time it shifted and affected his mental stability.  He was eventually placed in a mental asylum in 1919, where he died in 1927. The clamped teeth were used on him while he was in hospital.