John Hungerfold Pollen SJ

John Hungerford Pollen SJ

John Hungerford Pollen was born in 1858, one of ten children of the art historian and curator at the South Kensington Museum, John Hungerford Pollen and his wife, Maria Margaret. Pollen senior was a Catholic convert and ensured a Catholic education for his children. Pollen joined the Jesuits in 1877. He was very involved in the Cause of the English Martyrs, and was Postulator of the Cause. He occasionally signed his name in books and added 'Post. M.M.'. He was a historian and in 1895 he was commissioned to write a History of the English Jesuit Province. Because of his work on these projects he was very familiar with the Province Archives, and was named as the first Keeper of the Archives in 1920. Much of the organisation of the Archives at Mount Street was started by him, and this included care for the Antiquarian Books.

Some of the books contain notes in his handwriting explaining their provenance, and others have his name written in them. We assume the books he inscribed were his private collection which became part of the Jesuit Antiquarian Book Collection.

Click on any of the links below to find out more.

Photo of an inserted leaf with a printed address on it an notes in ink and pencil

Bibliographical note by Pollen. A/642

Pollen's inscription is written on writing paper headed '31 Farm Street, London W.' and reads:
'[Given, I believe, to Father Morris by the Nuns at Bruges.]
This hitherto undescribed edition of the Exercises, corresponds with the Italian Version, described in Summervogel V. 71.
The first page is missing
There is no date -
The book was [bound in 170 - words struck through] in the keeping of Helen Andrew in 1705 - this was the second possessor.
The print might be 20 or 40 years before that.'
Below that is an inscription in pencil in Fr Newdigate's hand:
'c.1630 Rouen'

Fr Morris is probably Fr John Morris SJ, a Jesuit who, like both Pollen and Newdigate, was closely involved in the Martyrs Cause.

For more on this book and its other inscriptions, click on the link below for the female names inscribed in it, or on the Other Institutions tab for more on the nuns at Bruges.

Book reference:
Ignatius, St, Spiritual Exercises. Printed at Rouen. 1630. A/642

Photo of a page of handwritten notes in black ink.

Bibliographical note by Pollen. A/1111

Pollen wrote a note in this book which gives a fairly detailed provenance history for it. His inscription reads: 'This volume was given to me, J.H. Pollen, by Sir Henry Bedingfield, at Oxburgh, July, 1920. It had come there through his mother, the heiress of Callaly, (of "Callaly Castle 1690" below). I had it rebound, as the old back had entirely disappeared. It was printed at the St Omers College Press'

Sir Henry Bedingfield was the 8th Baronet Bedingfield (1860-1941) and lived at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk. The Bedingfields were a well known recusant family, and Oxburgh had long been a centre of Catholic activity. Callaly Castle is in Northumberland and was the home of the Clavering family from the early seventeenth century until 1877. The Claverings were another prominent Catholic family.

'Callaly Castle 1690' is inscribed on a subsequent page of the book.

Without this type of narrative note we would not know about this book's provenance, and we are fortunate that Pollen left a few such notes.

Book reference:
Ordo Baptizandi aliaque Sacramenta administrandi, & Officia quaedam Ecclesiastica rite peragendi: Ex rituali Romano, iussi Pauli Quinti edito, extractus. Pro Anglia, Hibernia, & Scotia. [Printed at The English College Press, St Omers] 1639. A/1111

Photo of a flyleaf with inscriptions at the top and a pasted in printed note and the foot

Inscriptions by Pollen and others. A/94

Pollen's inscription reads:
'J.H. Pollen (Prov. Ang.)
31 Farm St. W.
May 1911.'

Pollen had a habit of writing a date in books, which is understood to indicate when he acquired the book.

A second inscription on this page reads:
'Script. Hist. Prov. Angl. 87', recording that the book was in the History Writers' room in 1987. There was a Writers' Library at the time, and this reference is probably to that.

At the foot of the page is an entry from a bookseller's catalogue, annotated by Pollen. Presumably this is the sale in which he bought the book.

Book reference:
Bennet, John, The hope of peace. By laying open such doubts and manifest untruthes as are divulged by the Arch-priest in his Letter or Answere to the Bookes which were published by the Priestes. [Printed in London by J. Creed] 1601. A/94

Inscription by Pollen. A/212

The inscription reads: 'JH Pollen SJ
Post. M.M.
31 Farm St. London W.1. '

'Post. M.M.' indicates he was at that time Postulator for the Martyrs Cause, the process by which the English and Welsh martyrs were put forward for sainthood.

Book reference:
Corker, James, Stafford's Memoires; or, A Brief and Impartial Account of the Birth and Quality, Imprisonment, Tryal, Principles, Declaration, Comportmen, Devotion, Last Speech, and Final End, of William, Late Lord Viscount Stafford. Beheaded on Tower-Hill Wednesday the 29. of Decemb[er]. 1680. Whereunto is annexed a short Appendix cocnerning some Passages in Stephen Colledges Tryal. The whole now again set forth, for a more ample Illustration of that so wonderfuly Zealous Pamphlet, Entituled; The Papists Bloody After-Game; writ in Answeer to the said Memoirs, And Published by Langley Curtis, 1682. Contaria juxta se posita magis elucescunt. A/212

Photo of part of a title page with a pencil inscription.

Inscription by Pollen. A/228

Pollen's inscription reads: 'The correction at p 94 is Cresswel's autograph J.H.P.' Joseph Cresswell SJ (1556-1623), was an English Jesuit, and the author of this book. A small ink correction is present on p 94, in a seventeenth century hand, presumably that of Cresswell and the reason Pollen bought this book.

Pasted onto the pastedown of this book is the entry for it from a bookseller's catalogue. It looks to be a late nineteenth or early twentieth century catalogue, presumably from the sale that Pollen or another Jesuit bought it, at least partly for its annotation by its Jesuit author.

Book reference:
Pernius, Ioannes, alias Joseph Cresswell SJ, Exemplar Literarum missarum, e Germania. Printed in Rome. 1592. A/228

Inscription by Pollen. A/607

The inscription reads 'Pollen 1898' referring to the date that he - presumably - bought this book. In 1686 this volume was in the use of a member of the Dominican Friary at Osnabruck, and in 1829 was inscribed by Paul College, which we have not been able to identify. For an image of the 1686 inscription click on the link below.

Book reference:
Gordon, James, Controuersiarum versiarum Christianae fidei aduersus huius temporis haereticos epitome. Printed at Cologne by Johannes Kinchius. 1620. A/607

John Hungerford Pollen SJ

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