Haileybury and Hogwarts 3

Having given the background in the preceding posts, what follows is the text of a letter I wrote one mad afternoon and sent to JK Rowling care of her publishers. I posted it and waited…

I used a stamp, not an owl

In your Comic Relief book about the History of Quidditch, one of the teams (from Canada) is the Haileybury Hammers. (p43)

Haileybury Ontario was named after his old school (Haileybury, near Hertford) by its founder, Charles Cobbold Farr in 1889, and has as its coat of arms the bearings of Haileybury College. This features three winged hearts (from the school motto, which Farr also transferred to the town: Sursum Corda).

Of course winged hearts look like Golden Snitches. It struck me that if ever you have cause to describe the colours and robes of the Haileybury Hammers it might lend authenticity to know about the winged hearts, and also that the local hockey team plays in a red strip because the house colours of Farr's boarding House were red. [Trevelyan]

If you don't just bin this letter as the foolishness of a fan, you can follow up the details in Imogen Thomas, Haileybury 1806 - 1987 pp 42 - 43 ISBN 0 9512393 0 9

ISC

A fascinating comment has come from 'Kris' to add to the post on the statue 'Spirit of Youth"

You will find it in the comments on the original post, but here it is to save you having to trawl through. Thank you Kris for this.

(Meanwhile I am so sorry that there has been hardly any posting over the last week. I plan a post on what I have been up to and then to finish the story of Haileybury and Hogwarts, which has a fascinating ending!)

The Spirit of Youth (post war version) in Dover

Pre war version in Dunfermline

The Spirit of Youth was created by Richard Reginald Goulden in 1908 for the Carnegie fountain in Dunfermline. A local schoolboy, Wiliam Galbraith, was one of the two models. In 1999 it was renovated and presented to Carnegie College. A (recent?) copy is in the foyer of the renovated Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline. The ISC 1936 copy is apparently still owned by Haileybury - but it is not on public display. [Does anyone know where it is? L]

In 1924 Goulden reworked the figure slightly for the Dover War Memorial - and a modified copy also graces the Newhaven Cemetery where he is buried.

The significant difference is that the pre-war optimism of the figure stretching for "winged victory laurels" - was replaced by it poignantly reaching for a small blazing crucifix. It is not currently known if the schoolboy models from 1908 survived the war.

All these variations can be found on the web. The foyer of the Alhambra is a 360 degree shot that can zoom into the sculpture's detail.