: Collectors & Collections

John Read le Brockton Tomlin was one of the most highly respected shell collectors of his time. Amgueddfa Cymru holds both his extensive shell collection and his archive of correspondence.

It is an archive not only of scientific history, capturing a bygone era of collecting, but also a personal insight into the lives of some of the most famous shell collectors of the day.

The archive is estimated to contain well over a thousand documents dating from the early 1800's through to the mid 1900's. It is a collection of all of the correspondence between Tomlin and his many shell associates around the world.

Many interesting discoveries have been made whilst cataloguing this archive. It has brought into focus aspects of the lives of collectors, recounting expeditions and voyages, personal illness and hardship, war, dinner invitations and Christmas cards.

A selection of items from the archive have been made available below.

A specimen plate from the The New Molluscan Names of César-Marie-Felix Ancey

Amgueddfa Cymru’s mollusc collections are of international significance, and contain hundreds of thousands of specimens. In 2008 the definitive book on the work of the great collector César-Marie-Felix Ancey (1860–1906) was produced.

César-Marie-Felix Ancey named many land and freshwater species new to science. A portion of his collection came to Amgueddfa Cymru in 1955, as part of the Melvill-Tomlin collection.

Museum staff have been researching Ancey’s collection, held in museums across the world, since 2004 and have now produced the most up-to-date and comprehensive list ever of his new scientific names and publications. It forms a reference tool for specialists and researchers worldwide.

César-Marie-Felix Ancey

César-Marie-Felix Ancey was one of the great Victorian collectors and made a huge contribution to science in his short life.

Born in Marseille, France, on 15 November 1860, he showed a keen interest in natural history from an early age. He created his own collection of shells and later wrote and published many papers on conchology.

Aged 23 he was appointed conservator of the Oberthur entomological collections at Rennes, France. He later returned to Marseille to study law, literature and science, and successfully obtained his diploma in 1885.

Two years later he entered the government in Algeria. After 13 years hard work he was promoted to acting administrator at Mascara in Western Algeria. All his mollusc studies were done in his spare time.

Specimens from across the globe

Ancey’s main interest was in small land snails. Through exchange and purchase he collected specimens from all over the world. The Pacific and Asia are particularly strong in his collection, but it also covers Europe, North and South America and Africa.

It was Ancey’s great desire to make a scientific journey to the Cape Verde Islands or South America, but sadly this dream was never realised as Ancey died of a fever at the young age of 46.

The collection gets split up

After Ancey’s death his entire collection went to Paul Geret, a shell dealer, who sold it on in 1919 and 1923. It was at this point that the collection was split up — the great private collectors of the time, Tomlin, Dautzenberg and Connolly among others, all competed for a part of it.

A majority of Ancey’s specimens are now held at Amgueddfa Cymru (Cardiff: Melvill-Tomlin collection), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels: Dautzenberg collection), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), Bernice P. Bishop Museum (Honolulu) and the Natural History Museum (London: Connolly collection).

A tribute to Ancey’s achievements

In 1908 a list of his mollusc publications was produced, shortly followed by a separate list of the scientific names he had published. These two publications indicated that Ancey had described some 550 scientific names in over 140 papers. The problem was that neither of these lists were complete, and this has caused difficulty to researchers in this field of science ever since.

Staff at Amgueddfa Cymru have now located all of Ancey’s papers to form a comprehensive bibliography listing 176 publications and within these we have identified 756 new scientific names.

From trawling the Melvill-Tomlin collection we know that nearly 300 of these names are represented in our collection of Ancey specimens and that we hold type specimens of 155 of these.

The result of this research is The New Molluscan Names of César-Marie-Felix Ancey, the most complete access to Ancey’s work that has ever been available.

Now the true extent of Ancey’s contribution to science and conchology can be revealed, helping to make his collection more accessible to the scientific community worldwide.

The Nannau ox painted with the family's cowman, Sion Dafydd, by Daniel Clowes of Chester. The ox was one of the last of an ancient herd of white cattle at Nannau.

Sir Robert Williames Vaughan (1768-1843). By permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales

The candelabrum made from the horns of the Nannau Ox, mounted onto two of its hoofs. The horns can be detached to form two drinking cups.

This oak and silver cup is part of a set of six acorn-shaped cups made for the 1824 birthday celebrations at Nannau, using the wood of the Ceubren yr Ellyll.

The White Ox

On 25 June 1824 one of Wales's grandest 21st-birthday celebrations took place for the son of Merioneth's biggest resident landowner. Held on the Nannau estate, Dolgellau, 200 guests sat down to an extravagant banquet that included a huge joint of beef from the white ox of Nannau. Various items produced to commemorate the event are now in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru including a candelabrum made from the horns and hoofs of the prized white ox.

Heirs to landed estates

For centuries it was customary for communities to celebrate the coming of age of the heir to a landed estate. This seems to have been especially true in north Wales. Until the Parliamentary reforms of 1832, the region was socially conservative, and its traditional Welsh-language culture remained strong.

The best-documented celebrations were those of Robert Williames Vaughan of Nannau.

A pillar of the community

The young man's father, Sir Robert Williames Vaughan (1768-1843), 2nd baronet, was Merioneth's biggest resident landowner and its sole representative in Parliament for over four decades. A pillar of the community, he took pride in maintaining old Welsh customs and kept open house at Nannau, where the neighbourhood came to dinner daily without special invitation.

Beef for the poor, beer for the rich

The younger Robert Williames Vaughan's coming of age was marked not only by his family but also by the local inhabitants of the nearby towns. It was accompanied by illuminations, fireworks, balloon ascents and cannon fire, and also much eating and drinking, especially of beef, which the poor never otherwise enjoyed, and beer, which the wealthy usually avoided in favour of wine. Oxen were roasted for the poor of Corwen, Barmouth and Bala and subscription dinners were held in Conway, Dolgellau and Chester.

Tables bent under the weight of good things

The central event was the celebration at Nannau itself on 25 June 1824. A wood, canvas and thatch tent was built in front of the late 18th-century mansion. Here, played in to the tune of The Roast Beef of Old England, 200 guests sat down to "a most sumptuous and plentiful banquet". After a fish course, a huge joint or 'Baron' of beef from a prized white ox, weighing 166lbs, was escorted into the room by the family's cowman, Sion Dafydd. The tables literally bent under the weight of good things. As well as wines, enormous jugs of Cwrw Da ('beer') were placed at proper intervals on the tables.

The Vaughans had a long tradition of cultural patronage and Sir Robert's toast to his son encapsulates the spirit of the occasion: "May he fear God and Honour the King; show reverence to his superiors and respect to his inferiors. Heddwch, Dedwyddwch a Chymydogaeth dda".

Owain Glyndwr and the hollow oak of the demon

The white ox was commemorated in a painting by Daniel Clowes of Chester, and the horns and hoofs were made into a candelabrum. Sir Robert also had six special toasting cups made for the occasion. They were made from the wood of the Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll, 'the hollow oak of the demon', an ancient tree at Nannau associated with Owain Glyndwr. These were subsequently cherished by the Vaughans, and are now also in Amgueddfa Cymru's collection.

The 1824 celebration was the highpoint of the family's influence. When the region marked Robert Williames Vaughan's wedding eleven years later in 1835 feeling in the neighbourhood was still said to be "worthy of old times when the words Radical & Reform were unknown", but he never enjoyed his father's prestige and died childless in 1859.

Article by: Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art, Amgueddfa Cymru