the house of Philip Laver

On Friday (24th January), we were going through the collection of Colchester building plans which belong to local buildings historian Richard Shackle, and which the Trust stores in the attic at Roman Circus House. Richard’s collection is a selection of plans which he saved from the office at Everett’s, the long-established Colchester building firm based on East Hill, when the company closed down. A member of the Everett family generously offered the plans as a gift to the Essex Record Office (ERO), and a representative from the ERO did make a selection of plans for the county archive. However, the vast bulk of Everett’s archive was going to be destroyed, so Richard saved a hundred or so more of the plans himself.

By sheer coincidence, like a card turning up in a magic trick, we found the plan for alterations to a very nice detached house in St Clare Road in Lexden, for Dr P Laver, and dated 1938. Philip Laver was a very significant figure in the archaeology of Colchester. Philip Guyon Laver (1866-1941) was an alderman of Colchester, a surgeon at the County Hospital in Lexden Road, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and honorary curator of Colchester Museum until his death. He was a member of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History and presented papers at their meetings which were then published in their Transactions. His house in Lexden would have been very convenient for his job and also for his investigations of the Lexden tumulus…

M R Hull wrote in the Acknowledgements to his important book Roman Colchester: ‘… the brothers H E [Laver] and Philip Laver, the latter of whom devoted his life enthusiastically to Roman Colchester, making a contribution equal to, if not surpassing, that of [William] Wire. Although he wrote but little, his contribution to knowledge and to the Museum was incalculable …’  Philip Laver is also cited in the bibliography, for his ‘Diary (two manuscript books kept as diaries at irregular intervals from 1922 onwards); many published articles and manuscripts’. Some of P G Laver’s letters are held by the ERO. The Trust and other archaeologists still use Roman Colchester and also the work of Philip Laver. For example, in The Temple of Claudius at Colchester reconsidered (P J Drury, 1984), the author cites Laver’s excavations in and around the castle keep while investigating the Roman temple, the podium of which Laver had investigated with the famous archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler. He also studied the Roman mosaic floor known as the ‘Berryfield mosaic’ which is now permanently displayed at Firstsite.

By another coincidence, we discovered that Philip Laver’s funeral was held on the 29th January 1941 and is described in the wartime diary of Eric Rudsdale. The funeral was held in the church of St Mary-at-the-Walls and Eric Rudsdale, who also worked at the museum, was one of the mourners. In a later diary entry, in September 1941, he recorded the unveiling of a memorial tablet to Philip Laver and his father Henry Laver in Colchester castle.

‘… THIS TABLET IS PLACED HERE TO HONOUR
THE MEMORY OF HENRY LAVER, FSA 1829-1917,
& OF HIS SON PHILIP GUYON LAVER, FSA, 1866-
1941, WHO FOR MANY YEARS WERE ACTIVELY
INTERESTED IN THIS MUSEUM AND WHOSE GENEROUS
GIFTS GREATLY ENRICHED ITS COLLECTIONS.
ERECTED IN GRATEFUL MEMORY AND APPRECIATION OF
THEIR SERVICES BY THE COLCHESTER TOWN COUNCIL
ON THE SUGGESTION OF THE MUSEUM COMMITTEE …’

The memorial is still there.

The image shows the front elevation of the house from the plans.

.

.