In the Churchyard of St. Andrew and St.Mary's in Grantchester, stands a monument to the Fellows of the Universities of Cambridge. The pelican at the top is a Christian symbol that denotes self~sacrifice.
It was earlier believed that the pelican fed it's young from a self inflicted gash, however the bird was merely feeding them from her pouch. The legend that was born from this observation, said that after the chicks had been killed by a snake, the mother bird resuscitated her young by feeding them her own blood. A great act of self~sacrifice for the sake of her children.
There are more names inscribed on the base of this monument than I have listed here, as all the horizontal surfaces have dedications as well. Unfortunately the lichens and weather have made them illegible.
Bruce Dickins
Fellow
Erlington & Bosworth
Professor of Anglo~Saxon
1880~1978
David James Bruce
Fellow
1928~1998
John Edward Lennard Jones
K.B.E ScD E.R.S Fellow
Professor Theoretical
Chemistry Principal
Univ. Col. Keele
1894~1954
Evelyn Garthmore
Fellow
1906~1990
John Thomson Mac ( Curdy ) ?
ScD Fellow
University Lecturer
1886~1947
Ronald R Henderson
A.O. C.M.G
Professor
1917~1994
George Stuart Carter
Fellow
1893~1969
Patrice Edouard Charvet
Fellow
1903~1993
and his wife
Eleanor Margaret
1904~1986
Malcolm Archer Sheridan Burgess
Fellow
1926~1978
John Harley Mason
Fellow
1920~2003
Stuart Dunsmore Elliot
Fellow
1907~1986
Gerard Mark Duveen
Fellow
1931~2008
Richard Bainbridge
Fellow
1922~1987
The pelican symbolism is so interesting--and new to me! Thank you for sharing. (Your photos are always so lovely.)
ReplyDeleteThose commemorated were all fellows of Corpus Christi College, whose symbol is the Pelican. MacCurdy is correct (a regular old members' dinner is named after him). There is one error however: Evelyn Garth Moore was an ecclesiastical lawyer, ordained quite late in life and Chancellor of (I believe) three Dioceses.
ReplyDeleteRichard Bainbridge was my tutor in the 1960s - he was an ichthyologist - used to describe himself as "the biggest fish-brain in the business"!