Memorial Plaque to James Smith

Richard Westmacott

c. 1838

Marble

Antechapel, Brasenose College, Oxford

The college chose many fellows on the basis of relationships to various benefactors with often grotesque results, such as the appointment of Smith in 1819 over the objections of the Principal Frodsham Hodson on the grounds that he was both the “twelfth cousin four times removed of the daughters and co-heiresses of John Port II” as well as their fifth cousin eleven times removed (169). Such appointments, which continued as late as 1846, occasionally produced good scholars, and Smith ended up a popular Vice Principal.

Westmacott's name incised lower right

Inscription

Brasenose College, Oxford

Photograph and text by George P. Landow.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL. Click on the image for a larger picture]