St Catharine's Cumberland Lodge

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0096 MS 928
Held at	: Senate House Library, University of London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections ›
Full title	: St Catharine's Cumberland Lodge
Date(s)	: 1925-1987
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 39 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Buller | Amy Ernestine | 1891-1974 | warden of St. Catharine's Cumberland Lodge
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Amy Ernestine Buller was born in London on 9 November 1891. She was brought up in South Africa as a Baptist, returning to England in 1911. Soon after, she went to Germany to learn the language, and to complete matriculation for Birkbeck College, London, where she took her degree in 1917 and became an Anglo-Catholic. She joined the Student Christian Movement (SCM) after the First World War and was appointed organising secretary in 1921. Moving from Manchester to become a London secretary in 1922, Buller organised a great many conferences and retreats bringing people of different doctrines and nations together. In 1929, she was appointed with 3 others to lead the SCM. In 1931, however, she left the movement to become warden of a women's residential hall at the University of Liverpool. During the 1930s she organised a number of delegations of prominent British churchmen to Germany in a bid for peace and to understand Nazism: what she saw as a new religion but ultimately condemned. She compiled a series of her conversations with people she had met in Germany and her views on the importance of some kind of religion to young people which were published under the title: Darkness over Germany (Longman Green, 1943).
Buller resigned from the University of Liverpool in 1942 and moved to London. Her time was taken up with plans to set up a new religious college. Initially, this was to be at the vacated precinct of the hospital of St. Katharine's, Regents Park. Her plans for a college at St Katharine's ran into difficulty both in terms of ethos and geographical issues and she had to abandon the location and search for another. After several other failures to a secure a site for her college, Buller was granted the use of Cumberland Lodge at Windsor Park after the death of its previous inhabitant, Lord Fitzalan. Buller wanted to retain the connection with St Katharine's, but the college had to remain separate from the original foundation. She decided to retain the same name, albeit with a different spelling, associated with St. Catharine, the Patron Saint of Philosophers. The name of the college changed in 1966 to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St. Catharine's, Cumberland Lodge.
The college was designed as a place where students could discuss important matters of life and society in a pleasant environment, being given intellectual stimulus in areas outside their normal academic studies. It was a Christian foundation, although non-Christian students were admitted, the religious aspect was always fundamental, although the intention was to make it unobtrusive. Amy Buller remained Honorary Warden at the college until 1966. She died in 1974, aged 83.
(Taken largely from Walter James, A short account of Amy Buller and the founding of St. Catharine's Cumberland Lodge, printed privately (1979)).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

(1)The Mirfield Papers (1925-c.1969) mostly containing correspondence between Amy Buller and Father Edward Keble Talbot (d. 1949), Superior of the Community of Resurrection, Mirfield 1922-40; (2)The Bennet Papers (1949-1968) are papers of Dr. E. A. Bennet relating to the establishment and operation of St. Catharine's Cumberland Lodge; (3)The Scott Papers (1941-1966) consist mostly of correspondence between Amy Buller and Francis Scott concerning the Scott family's financial support; (4)The James Papers (1976-1979) contain correspondence, taped recollections and notes assembled by Walter James, Principal 1974-1982, during the writing of A short account of Amy Buller and the founding of St. Catharine's Cumberland Lodge (printed privately, 1979); (5)The Eastaugh Papers (1955-1959) contain correspondence collected by Cyril Eastaugh, Bishop of Kensington during his time as Chairman of the Trustees of St. Catharine's; (6)Cumberland Lodge Papers (1944-1972) contain: constitutional and administrative records of St. Catharine's (1944-1972); (7)The Vick Papers (1962-1966) consist of correspondence between Dr. Francis Arthur Vick (later Sir Arthur Vick), member of the Council of St. Catharine's, and Amy Buller. (8)The Pateman Papers (1953-1978) consist of correspondence and other papers of John Anderson Pateman, Honorary Secretary of the Trustees and of the Council of St. Catharine's 1960-1973, trustee 1972-1980; (9)The Harvey Papers (1966-1974) consist of correspondence and other papers of Major Thomas Cochayne Harvey, CVO, DSO, trustee of St. Catharine's 1960-1988 and chairman of the Council 1961-1968; (10)Secretarial Papers (1964-1984) concern constitutional and administrative aspects of St. Catharine's during the period; (11)The Pool Papers (1979-1984) consist of correspondence of John Arthur Pool, Honorary Treasurer of the Trustees of St. Catharine's 1972-1973 and Honorary Secretary of St. Catharine's 1973-1980, trustee 1980-date; (12)The Charteris Papers (1979-1987) consist of correspondence of Lieutenant-Colonel The Lord Charteris of Amisfield, Chairman of the Trustees of St. Catharine's 1978-1986.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Mainly English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Permission for access to this collection must be obtained from the Principal of St. Catharine's before these papers can be consulted. Once permission is obtained, readers must give 3 days notice of their wish to use the collection. Items from the collection can then be consulted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Uncatalogued material may not be seen. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids:

St. Catharine's Cumberland Lodge, Catalogue of the Archive of St. Catharine's, Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, Windsor (1983-1992) [The finding aid is an unpublished typescript and hand-written catalogue containing details of dates and correspondents of items in the collection and descriptions of the contents of some items. It is available on request from the archivist.]

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
1999-10-06 Keith Austin