Owen, Lady Caroline: Commonplace book

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0114 MS0283
Held at	: Royal College of Surgeons of England   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/archives/ ›
Full title	: Owen, Lady Caroline: Commonplace book
Date(s)	: c 1790-1835
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Owen | Lady | Caroline Amelia | 1801-1873 | nee Clift | wife of Sir Richard Owen

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Lady Caroline Amelia Owen was born in 1801. She was the daughter of William Clift, Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Richard Owen began work at the Museum as Assistant Conservator in 1827. He became friends with Clift's son, William Home Clift, and also became engaged to Caroline Clift in 1827. Mrs Clift refused to give her permission for the two to marry until Owen was earning an adequate income. They were married on Owen's birthday in 1835. Their only child, William, was born in 1837 but committed suicide at the age of 48. Caroline Owen died in 1873.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Lady Caroline Amelia Owen, c 1790-1835, comprising a letter from Joanna Baillie, 1831, including a transcript of a sonnet by William Wordsworth; a watercolour sketch of Keeper's House, Hyde Park, c 1790; a watercolour of execution dock, by William Clift, 1816; a pen and ink sketch of the opening of the theatre at the Royal College of Surgeons, by William Clift; a sketch of Caroline Clift by her father; a pencil portrait of Eugenius Roche, by William Home Clift, 1824; a printed caricature of Richard Owen lecturing, by Richard Doyle; a volume titled Select Sentences or a Collection of Moral Precepts by John Gregor, 1792; a pencil drawing of three pigs by 'R H'; a pen and ink sketch showing Oxford Street with placards referring to Owen's researches, by Robert Lee; an unfinished watercolour titled 'Sketch of church and castle, Lancaster, from my mother's house (the procession of the judges was to have filled the foreground)', by Richard Owen, 1835; a volume of French verse titled Envoi a Caroline by Eugenius Roche, 1829; a flyer for Mr Mears' Benefit at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 25 Jun 1839; and a list of 'books consulted in the progress of the catalogue of the Gallery'.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English and French

System of arrangement:

As outlined in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

By written appointment only.

Conditions governing reproduction:

At the discretion of the librarian.

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The provenance of this material is not known.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Papers of Sir Richard Owen (GB0114/MS0025); and William Clift (GB0114/MS0007).

The British Library: A play The Fortress of Metz, or The Miser's Oath by Caroline Amelia Owen, 1835 (ADD 34409).

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Anya Turner.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Oct 2008