This is another volume from our backlog of uncatalogued items. In this case, the small booklet was part of the former Community Library, which was a big library at the bottom of the building next to us. The Library served the members of the Jesuit Mount Street Community, when about 40 men were living in the building which has been the London Jesuit Centre since 2019 . The space of the Community Library has been used by the Jesuits in Britain Archives, and they took on all the books from the Community Library. Since November 2022, books have been transferred to the Heythrop Library, as our remit for collecting books is much wider than the one of the Archives.
But back to this book. I started thinking about a post which would do some kind of analysis (mostly factual) of the people covered in this 159 pages short booklet over 15 months ago. Repeatedly, I had failed to find an angle with which I could share this with you, without doing too much reading and research (as time is in short supply). However, I have now conceded that a bit of reading and work is needed. Also, I will turn my explorations of the people in this little book into a series of posts, which means that I can share some findings with you earlier, then doing all the work and then giving you the “great reveal” later.
There are 50 profiles in this publication, and a fair number of them were still alive when the book was published in 1947:
Catholic profiles : series 1 / Michael de la Bedoyere.
By: De la Bedoyere, Michael, 1900-1973 [author.]
Material type: 
Text
Publisher: London : Paternoster publications, 1947
Description: 159 pages : illustrations (black and white); 19 cm
Subject(s):
Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction — 1. Colm Brogan — 2. Father Martin D’Arcy, S.J. — 3. Douglas Jerrold — 4. A.C.F. Beales — 5. George Glasgow — 6. Florence Barry — 7. Richard Rapier Stokes, M.P. — 8. Donald Attwater — 9. Joan Morris — 10. The Rev. W.E. Orchard, D.D. — 11. Dr. Frank Aylward — 12. Arnold Lunn — 13. The Rev. J.C. Heenan — 14. Algernon Cecil — 15. Harry Tolfree — 16. Bernard Sullivan — 17. Mary Bondy — 18. Robert Speaight — 19. Archbishop David Mathew — 20. Christopher Dawson — 21. Bob Walsh — 22. Bertha Quinn — 23. Jack Donovan — 24. Christopher Hollis, M.P. — 25. Bishop John Toner — 26. Kathleen Chambers — 27. The Rev. John Fitzsimons — 28. W.F. Stead — 29. Marie Woodruff — 30. John Rotenstein — 31. Arthur Gannon — 32. Roy Campbell — 33. William Teeling — 34. Dom. Wilfrid Upson, O.S.B. (Abbot of Prinknash) — 35. Sir Shane Leslie — 36. The Rev. Ivor Daniel — 37. Ted Kavanagh — 38. Lord Pakenham — 39. F.W. Chambers, K.S.G. — 40. F.J. Sheed — 41. Sir Francis Rose — 42. Evelyn Waugh — 43. Reginald Jebb — 44. Mrs. T. Fitzgerald — 45. Maisie Ward — 46. Denis Gwwynn — 47. Fr. C.C. Martindale, S.J. — 48. Barbara Ward — 49. Dame Vera Laughton Mathews — 50. Graham Greene.
| Item type | Current library | Class number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
 Offsite borrowable requestable | Heythrop Library Deepstore Offsite Store [up to 2 working days] | DA28.8.C3 1947 (Browse shelf (Opens below)) | Available |
(The catalogue record is at https://hey.koha.openfifth.net/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=96916)
The author of these profiles was Michael de la Bédoyère (1900-1973), who was influenced by Jesuit education (going to school at Stonyhurst, then later studying at Campion Hall), and he was the editor of the Catholic Herald (1934-1962).
So far I have found web pages, more information or the dates of these Catholics, but with some I will need to dig deeper, as this publication does not always clearly give any dates, or the person written about in 1947 was then “still” alive:
For some of the above I “fear” that I will need to use books or journals to dig up some more information. Oh, I’m in the right place for this, as I work in a library.
Watch this space for further installments of this new series – even if they might take me a while to work on, and write about.
CG
What are your thoughts about the above?