Clifton Antiquarian Club
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| Formation | 23 January 1884 |
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| Type | Non-Governmental Organization |
| Purpose | Investigation of Antiquities |
| Headquarters | 9 Kewstoke Road, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, BS9 1HA, England |
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Chair
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Peter Fenn |
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Vice-Chair
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Laurie Waite |
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Treasurer
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John Swann |
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Webmaster
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Donovan Hawley |
| Website | www.cliftonantiquarian.co.uk |
The Clifton Antiquarian Club was founded in 1884 in Bristol to investigate antiquities in the surrounding area of western England and southern Wales. The twenty-eight years of research performed by the membership and associates of the original society fill the first seven volumes of the Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club. The association was dissolved in 1912, but was resurrected in 2006. Three additional volumes of Proceedings have been published by the current incarnation of the society.
The Clifton Antiquarian Club was established on 23 January 1884 in Bristol, England. The impetus for the formation of the society was a letter that had circulated among archaeologists and others in the Clifton area of Bristol suggesting that an antiquarian club be formed. The first meeting was held at the Bristol Museum and Library, now the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and was attended by twenty-three men from the community. Bishop William Clifford was elected president and Alfred Edmund Hudd was elected secretary. Two vice-presidents and a treasurer were also chosen. The mission of the Clifton Antiquarian Club was the investigation of antiquities in the surrounding area, which included not only western England, but also southern Wales. The society decided to limit membership to forty men at any given time, although there could also be up to ten honorary members. Many of the club's members resided in the Clifton area of Bristol. While women could interact on a limited basis with the society, they were not formal members of the club. The first meeting of the Clifton Antiquarian Club also included a presentation by John Taylor, Bristol City Librarian. He read his research paper "Anglo-Norman Church Doorways" to the assembled men.
The first president of the Clifton Antiquarian Club, William Joseph Hugh Clifford (1823–1893), was ordained as a priest in August 1850 by Archbishop Errington in Clifton. He was appointed Bishop of Clifton, and in February 1857 he was consecrated as bishop by Pope Pius IX in Rome. The Honorable and Right Reverend William Clifford, Bishop of Clifton, served as president of the Clifton Antiquarian Club from its founding in 1884 until his death on 14 August 1893. He also served as a vice-president in the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society and the Somersetshire Archaeological Society, now the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, publishing papers in both of their journals.
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