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Years in the life: 1827-1849
A chronology of the key events in Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers' life 1827-1849
Many thanks to Peter Rivière for the references from the Times archive, and many other notes, in all these tables.
|
Year |
Month |
Day |
Event |
Source of information |
|
1811 |
No month |
No days |
William Augustus Lane Fox, Lane Fox's father commissioned into Grenadier Guards |
Chapman, 1981: Chapter 1 |
|
1817 |
No month |
No days |
Marriage of William Augustus Lane Fox and Caroline Douglas, Lane Fox's parents |
Chapman, 1981: Chapter 1 |
|
1818 |
No month |
No days |
William Edward Lane Fox born, Lane Fox's elder brother |
Chapman, 1981: Chapter 1 |
|
1827 |
April |
12, 14 or 15 |
Lane Fox born, Hope Hall, Wetherby, Yorkshire |
Date of 12th given by Pitt-Rivers' memorial at Tollard Royal Church; Thompson, 1977: 11, 121 gives both 14 or 15; date of 14 April given in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and by Bowden, 1991; date of 15th given in the Manchester Guardian and Observer 30 April 1827 |
|
1828 |
January |
29 |
Baptized, Sturminster Newton, Dorset |
Thompson, 1977: 121 |
|
1828 |
July |
30 |
Alice Margaret Stanley born (his future wife) |
http://www.thepeerage.com/p5621.htm#i56201 Year confirmed by the Pitt-Rivers art catalogue. Actual date given on Pitt-Rivers' memorial Tollard Royal Church |
|
1829 |
|
|
|
|
|
1830 |
|
|
|
|
|
1831 |
January |
23 |
William Horace Beckford later Pitt-Rivers, 3rd Baron Rivers, dies |
He was one of the links in the chain that led to Pitt-Rivers' inheritance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Rivers |
|
1832 |
February |
11 |
William Augustus Lane Fox, Lane Fox's father, dies in Torquay. Lane Fox is 4 at time of death |
Thompson, 1977: 121 |
|
1832 |
No month |
No days |
Family moves to London |
Thompson, 1977: 13 |
|
1833 |
|
|
|
|
|
1834 |
|
|
|
|
|
1835 |
|
|
|
|
|
1836 |
March |
18 |
William Edward Lane Fox, Lane Fox's elder brother, matriculates at Balliol College, University of Oxford |
Thompson, 1977: 13; Chapman 1981: Chapter 1 |
|
1837 |
|
|
|
|
|
1838 |
|
|
|
|
|
1839 |
|
|
|
|
|
1840 |
|
|
William Edward Lane Fox, Lane Fox's elder brother, leaves University of Oxford |
He had studied Civil Law, Chapman 1981: Chapter 1. He does not seem to have taken his degree, perhaps because of ill-health. He does get a job in the Diplomatic Corps |
|
1841 |
January |
19 |
Lane Fox admitted as cadet to Royal Military College at age of 13 |
Thompson, 1977: 14, 121 |
|
1841 |
July |
22 |
Lane Fox retired from Sandhurst at age 14 |
Thompson, 1977: 14, 121 |
|
1842 |
|
|
|
|
|
1843 |
|
|
|
|
|
1844 |
|
|
|
|
|
1845 |
May |
16 |
Lane Fox commissioned into Grenadier Guards with rank of ensign and lieutenant by purchase at age of 18 |
Thompson, 1977: 122, Chapman, 1981: 10; London Gazette (20471:1472); I.E.A. Dolby (ed.) 1866. The Journal of the Household Brigade for the year 1866. London: W. Clowes and Sons. p.31 [Thanks to Dan Hicks for this ref] |
|
1845 |
June |
No days |
Lane Fox on leave from Grenadier Guards |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1845 |
July |
No days |
Lane Fox joined Grenadier Guards regiment and served at Portman Street London |
Chapman, 1981: 10. Pitt-Rivers was in the Third Battalion |
|
1845 |
September |
1 |
Battalion [the 3rd] moves to St George's Knightbridge |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1846 |
February |
5 |
Alice Stanley 'comes out' aged 18 |
Thompson, 1977: 18 |
|
1846 |
March |
1 |
Battalion moves to Windsor Castle |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1846 |
September |
1 |
Battalion moves to Tower of London |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1847 |
January |
11 |
?Lane Fox involved in railway accident at Brighton at age of 19. See here. |
Brighton Gazette, reprinted in Derby Mercury 13 January 1847 [my thanks to Dan Hicks for pointing this out]. He is described as 'Colonel Lane Fox' so it is just possible it is a relative |
|
1847 |
March |
1 |
Battalion moves to Winchester [summer station] |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1847 |
September |
1 |
Battalion moves back to Portman Street, London |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1848 |
March |
1 |
Battalion moves to St George's Knightsbridge |
Thompson, 1977: 15. Note that the Chartist rally took place in London in April 1848, it is not known if Pitt-Rivers was one of the special forces which were present to quell any trouble. |
|
1848 |
September |
1 |
Battalion moves back to Windsor Castle |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1848 |
No month |
No days |
Lane Fox thought to have met Alice Stanley for first time at age of 20-21 |
Thompson, 1977: 18 |
|
1849 |
March |
1 |
Battalion moves to Tower of London |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1849 |
September |
1 |
Battalion moves to Tower of London |
Thompson, 1977: 15 |
|
1849 |
No date |
No days |
First proposal to Alice Stanley refused by her parents on the grounds of his lack of prospects. He continues to see her, however. He is aged 21 or 22 at time of proposal |
Thompson, 1977: 22 |
Note that Pitt-Rivers is believed never to have kept a diary or journal [Bowden, 1991: xiii, Chapman, 1981: viii]. In addition, the same source states that Pitt-Rivers '"never knew what day month or even year it was"' and that 'seems to be a factual statement'. [Bowden, 1991: 27] I can confirm the second statement from my experience of the documentation of the first, founding collection of the PRM which often gives wrong dates for known events such as collecting from the London Wall, or Pitt-Rivers own excavations. Whilst I have tended to assume that these are due to mistranscriptions on the part of intervening museum staff, it is certainly likely that Pitt-Rivers also contributed to this confusion. However, these two facts in combination (no adequate records and date confusion) mean that the above chronology must be taken with at least a degree of scepticism.
Abbreviations used in the chronologies:
Anthrop Inst = Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Anthrop Soc = Anthropological Society of London
BGM = Bethnal Green Museum
CUL = Cambridge University Library
DNB = Dictionary of National Biography
Ethnol Soc = Ethnological Society of London
JAI = Journal of the Anthropological Institute
JAS = Journal of the Anthropological Society
JESL = Journal of the Ethnological Society
OUMNH = Oxford University Museum of Natural History
OW = Other Within research project see http://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-Pitt-Rivers-archaeology-England.html
P-R = Pitt-Rivers, his name was actually Augustus Henry Lane Fox until 1880 when he added the additional surnames Pitt Rivers, but for ease one form is used
SKM = South Kensington Museum
S&SWM = Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
