Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1895-1899 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 volume (22.5 x 29 cm) containing 36 sheets + 12 loose pieces
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Son of the Rev. William and Marian Williams of Parciau, Anglesey, born 25 Apr. 1876. He attended Harrow, and then Trinity College, Cambridge, matriculating in Michaelmas term, 1894. He was made Second Lieut., in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 1896, served in the Boer War 1898-1901, was made Captain in 1899 and Major in 1902. He served in World War I, in the 3rd Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and was promoted to Colonel in 1919. He married Catherine E. A. Phibbs in 1897, and Elinor Henrietta Williams in 1909.
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Content and structure area
Scope and content
An album containing 86 menus, many of them for private dinners given by Lawrence Williams and his circle of friends at Cambridge. The menus are mounted, and the pages for the nearly 60 private dinners for 1895-1896 carry handwritten notes recording the attendees and the host. Many of the menus were printed by Redin & Co., Cambridge, and feature a variety of illustrations, with both the courses and Williams's name printed. Williams hosted some of these dinners; other frequent hosts include E. Harold Johnston, the Hon. Wilfred James, Alfred F. Sotheby, G. O. G. Bramson, H. M. Dent, O. J. Kuhn, Herbert W. Oakeley, and Tom Simpson. There are five menus for a club, the 'Angels' (motto: 'Nunc est bibendum'), whose members are listed on the inaugural dinner menu of 27 Feb. 1896: Bramson, James, Johnston, Kuhn, Simpson, Williams, C. R. Holmes and F. E. C. Pilkington. There are also two Trinity College dinner menus and two menus for the Cambridge Drag and Beagle Hunts. Several 21st birthday dinner menus are mounted on pages signed by those present.
The private menus for 1897 and after tend to lack lists of attendees, and are intermixed with menus for University events (the Oxford v Cambridge Skating Match, the Drag & Beagle Hunt Dinner), the Ghezirah Palace in Cairo, dinners for the Officers of the 3rd Battalion D.C. Light Infantry and for the Anglesey Summer Assizes. At the back of the album are two programmes for A.D.C. Smoking Concerts in 1895. There are two invitations, including one from the Officers of the Royal Welch Fusiliers to the Officers of the 3rd Battalion in May 1898. Laid in loose are two slips detailing fines for minor infractions at Trinity, four drawings of 'Life in the Trenches' by [V. L. Pinner?], a note in Williams's hand recording dinners and attendees for Oct.-Nov. 1896, and a letter from A. Hartmann of Webb's Restaurant, 3 & 4 Market Street, Cambridge, 4 Feb. 1897 to Williams enclosing 2 menus for his approval [menus not with letter].
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Notes area
Note
Written at top of front free endpaper: 'Printed by E. H. Johnston, Trinity Hall, 2 Jesus Lane, Camb.'
Note
A binding ticket for Redin & Co., Cambridge appears on the inside front cover of the album.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Johnston, Edward Harold (b 1876) clergyman (Subject)
- James, Wilfred (1874-1908) son of Walter Henry James, 2nd Baron Northbourne of Betteshanger (Subject)
- Sotheby, Alfred Frederick (1874-1949) friend of Lawrence Williams (Subject)
- Bramson, George Oswald Guttery (c 1875-1933) friend of Lawrence Williams (Subject)
- Dent, Hamilton Henry Montague (b 1875) barrister (Subject)
- Kuhn, Oscar Jacob (b 1875) barrister (Subject)
- Oakeley, Herbert William (1874-1931) stockbroker (Subject)
- Simpson, Tom Thorp (1877-1901) Second Lieutenant (Subject)
- Holmes, Cuthbert Ralph (1876-c 1900) friend of Lawrence Williams (Subject)
- Pilkington, Frederick Ernest Chomley (1873-1901) Second Lieutenant (Subject)
- Angels (club) (Subject)
- Hartmann, A. (fl 1897) proprietor of Webb's Restaurant, Cambridge (Subject)
- Webb's Restaurant (Cambridge) (Subject)