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All Souls And The Shipley CaseEditions
Review
It concerns the curious case of Charles Shipley, himself elected a Fellow of All Souls in 1805, and it soon is clear why the college had kept the documents sealed and out of sight in the archives: it is the tale of a scandal, which caused great turmoil within the college. I think it would be going too far to say that professional solidarity demands that I, a bookseller, should apologise for the conduct of the nineteen year-old Charles Slatter, a bookseller’s assistant - but his intervention in the life of Charles Shipley had a long-lasting impact on the latter’s career. Slatter accused Shipley of gross indecencies towards him on two occasions - and claimed that when he had rebuffed Shipley, he had been given money to keep quiet. McManners deftly - and unobtrusively - describes the somewhat nightmarish sequence of events that followed this accusation - the college’s own investigation, the trial at the Assizes, a further decision in college, and so forth. It is, from almost everyone’s point of view, a rather sad story - though the final outcome is by no means predictable, and some of the research by Shipley’s friend Heber (later the Bishop) yields surprises worthy of any detective novel. Most of all, the documents which make up this story shed light on another era and on its morality - but if you think of recent outbreaks of hysteria in our own time, notably over child abuse, it seems a malicious accusation can be just as powerful today as it was nearly two hundred years ago. - review by Dan Fenton |
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John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
John McManners, former Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, now an Honorary Fellow of All Souls, was researching the life of Bishop Reginald Heber when the college archivist drew his attention to a bundle of documents labelled ‘The Shipley Case’. After consideration and consultation, the package was opened and the story that is told in this slim volume was revealed.
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