Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/259

 10 s. xii. SEPT. n, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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The authenticity of the exhibits cannot be discussed in these pages ; let it be agreed that they are all beyond question : this would not justify the inclusion of such lots as the following :

" Lot 310. Case containing skulls

"Lot 312. Skull and bones of a British soldier found near where the last charge took place, be- longing to the Horse Artillery, and part of the hair, helmet, chin straps and pieces of jacket with buttons.

"Lot 313. Skull found near La Belle Alliance in 1899 ; three sabre-cuts are to be seen on it, &c.

"Lot 314. Tibia with a bullet under the knee; found near Papelatte."

In 1890 the organizer of this museum was, we are informed, disinterred, and his skeleton placed in the Waterloo Crypt at Evere. At least equal honour and reve- rential interment should have been accorded to the poor fragments just mentioned. A distinction has been made between the exhibitor and the exhibited, although all were presumably heroes in the day of the great battle.

The importance of the collection in its entirety has been much over-estimated, and the United Service Museum could have no possible use for nine-tenths of its exhibits. One entry in the catalogue calls for notice. Lot 317 is " a pair of Napoleon's silver spurs, taken from his carriage, stamped with crown and N." These were exhibited with the carriage and its numerous fittings by William Bullock at the London Museum, Piccadilly, 1816. When this excellent show- man, acting as his own auctioneer, offered his collections for sale on the premises, the spurs formed lot 68, on Saturday, 1 May, 1819 : " Pair of Napoleon's Spurs, found in the bottom of the carriage."

There is hardly, I think, occasion for the outbursts of enthusiasm in the press on these relics of Waterloo. We have had such in plenty, and of greater importance, in London. Thus the Waterloo Museum at 97, Pall Mall, was established in 1815, although the first edition of its catalogue is dated the year following. It was the enterprise of a Mr. Palmer, a cutler of St. James's Street, and its 189 exhibits, although not all identified as having been picked up on the battle-field, were of great interest. Com- menting on it, ' The Picture of London ' (1816, p. 652) says: "The splendid results of the battle of Waterloo .... have led to various displays in London calculated to gratify the popular feelings." This may refer to other exhibitions of relics, but pro- bably the London Museum and the Pano- ramas in the Strand and at Leicester Square

are meant. 1 have not ascertained the duration of this earliest Waterloo Museum, but some of its treasures migrated to the Gothic Hall, Pall Mall (Catalogue, 4th edition, 1819 ; 6th edition, 1820) ; and when Mr. Christie dispersed that " Grand Exhibition of Military Antiquities " by a succession of sales commencing 21 March, 1821, these relics, included in the third portion, "were withdrawn by the proprietor." That is William Upcott's endorsement on an annotated copy of the Catalogue before me.

The relics reappeared at the Royal Armoury, 7, Haymarket, which opened about this date, next to the theatre ; but how they were subsequently disposed of I cannot at present say. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

HOLDERNESS FAMILIES (10 S. xii. 149).

The following notes on the family of Pearson of Holderness may be of interest to H. G. P. :

John Pierson of Ryhill, in Holderness,

married before 1560 Jane, daughter of

Auchon, and had a son, Thomas Pierson of York, 1612, who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Knowles (Mayor of Hedon four times between 1573 and 1582), and had issue a son and heir, Richard Pierson of Ryhill, living 1612. He, or possibly his son Richard Pierson, died 2 Aug., 1695, and was buried at St. Mary's, Hull.

A Samuel Pearson of Ryhill married in 1654 Elizabeth, widow of Christopher Gower (who d. 1653).

Elizabeth Pearson married Lawrence Raines of Burton Pidsea, who d. 1631.

Thomas Pearson was Recorder of Hedon 1604, and J.P. for the East Riding in 1625.

John Pearson, alias Symson, married in 1583 Elizabeth, widow of Christopher Teny- son of Ryhill (who d. 1580), great-grand- father of Archbishop Tenison.

Richard Pierson of Ryhill, living 1558, had issue Peter, John, Anne, and Jenet. This John, second son, appears to be the same as the John Pierson first above named, who is also referred to in the will of Agnes Tennyson, widow of John Tennyson of Kayingham, 1563. The bequests are to John and to Jane and " her four children."

Peter Pearson of Camerton d. July, 1557.

John Pearson of Sutton d. 1429.

Alice Pearson of Sutton, d. between 1440 and 1447.

John Pearson of Kayingham died 1517.

Peter Pearson of Coniston d. 1619.