John Reginald Homer Weaver (28 January 1882 – 22 March 1965) was a British historian, academic and architectural photographer. He was president of

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

, from 1938 to 1954.

Life and career

John Reginald Homer Weaver was born on 28 January 1882, the son of Reverend John Crowley Weaver, Vicar of Kempley, Gloucestershire. He was educated at

Felsted School Felsted School is a co-educational independent school, independent boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school, situated in Felsted in Essex, England. It is in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, and was founded i ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, and

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at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1905, as a member of

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

. He obtained a first-class degree in history in 1909. During his time at the college, he was president of the Junior Common Room and the college debating society. He was

Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History is a chair in history at Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as ...

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

from 1911 to 1914. He then began a 40-year career at

, first as a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and Tutor from 1914 to 1938 (serving in the War Trade Intelligence Department between 1915 and 1919 during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

). In 1938, he was appointed President of Trinity College, a post he held until 1954. One history of Trinity College, where he was commonly known as Reggie, describes him as a quiet and unassuming figure with an "easy-going attitude to College administration". He was also known at Oxford for his twin passions of architectural photography and roses. He created a rose garden at Trinity, between the War Memorial Library and the Jackson Building, and he made a number of trips to Spain to photograph ecclesiastical buildings. He was editor of the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' (''DNB'') between 1928 and 1937. He was made an Honorary Fellow of

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

and

. His writings included a memoir of

Henry William Carless Davis Henry William Carless Davis (13 January 1874 – 28 June 1928) was a British historian, editor of the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', and Oxford Regius Professor of Modern History. Early career Davis was born in Ebley, near Stroud, Glou ...

, the historian and ''DNB'' editor, and an edition of ''The Chronicle of

John of Worcester John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is now usually held to be the author of the . Works John of Worcester's principal work was the (Latin for "Chronicle from Chronicles") or ...

, 1118–1140'' (1908).

The Weaver Report

Weaver made a significant contribution to the highly contentious debate over the cleaning, conservation and restoration of oil paintings. The controversy began in the 19th century but found renewed energy in the late 1940s following the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

's cleaning of some 60 paintings while in secret secure storage in Wales during the Second World War. Following scathing criticism of some of the results, the then director of the National Gallery, Sir Philip Hendy, appointed Weaver to head a committee of inquiry into the gallery's cleaning and care of pictures in order to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the techniques and materials then being used. A report, known as "The Weaver Report on the Cleaning of Pictures in the National Gallery", was published in 1950 and subsequently became widely known simply as The Weaver Report. It exonerated the gallery and endorsed what the gallery was keen to portray as the scientific approach applied in its conservation work (as opposed to one dominated by questions of aesthetics and taste). The Weaver Report was, however, by no means the last word on the subject, and the argument continued well into the 1960s.

Architectural photography

Weaver was an accomplished photographer, an interest he developed early in life, around 1900. He was a fellow of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

and had a particular interest in Spanish architecture. He spent several vacations travelling in Spain and photographing ecclesiastical buildings. A collection of his work, dating from around 1900 to 1929 and comprising photographic prints, negatives, lantern slides, lecture notes and notebooks, is now held in the archive of Historic England. The subjects include

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, Ely,

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

cathedrals;

Southwell Minster Southwell Minster_(church), Minster, strictly since 1884 Southwell Cathedral, and formally the Cathedral and Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Church of England cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. The cathedral is the s ...

and

York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...

; St Mary's Church at Kempley; St Mary's Church at

Hartwell, Buckinghamshire Hartwell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell, in central Buckinghamshire, England. It is to the south of Aylesbury, by the village of Stone. In 1971 the civil parish had a population of 10 ...

; and in Oxford the

Divinity School A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

, Trinity College, the Old Ashmolean Museum and the

Sheldonian Theatre The Sheldonian Theatre, in the centre of Oxford, England, was built from 1664 to 1669 after a design by Christopher Wren for the University of Oxford. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, List of Wardens of All Souls College, Oxford, Wa ...

. More than a hundred of his photographs are held in the collection of the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London. The gallery label for one of the images, of Avila Cathedral in Spain, states: "Weaver photographed architectural structures throughout Spain. A follower of Frederick Evans, he was interested in the delicate effects of light and shadow seen in interiors. He diligently recorded the conditions for each of the images he made and kept a detailed journal of his techniques...He captured the luminosity and detail of interiors by continuing to use

platinum prints Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome photographic printing, printing process involving platinum. Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are ...

which had been popular in the 1890s." An exhibition of Weaver's architectural photography, Photographs of Spanish Architecture, took place at the Royal Photographic Society from 4 June to 31 July 1943, and at the Institute of Spain in London from 27 June to 9 July 1949. Catalogues of these exhibitions are held in the

National Art Library The National Art Library (NAL) is a major reference library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), a museum of decorative arts in London. The NAL holds the UK's most comprehensive collection of both books as art and books about art, ...

at the V&A Museum in London. Photographs by him can also be found in the collections of the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

, University of Texas, and the

George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...

in Rochester, New York, as well as the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

's Conway Collection.

Personal life and death

John Weaver married Stella Mary Georgina Acton in 1917. They had one child, the distinguished surgeon John Patrick Acton Weaver (1927–2011). John Weaver died on 22 March 1965.

Selected publications

*''The Dictionary of National Biography, 1912–1921: with an index covering the years 1901–1921 in one alphabetical series'', Oxford University Press, 1927 (with H. W. Carless Davis and George Smith) *''The Dictionary of National Biography, 1922–1930: with an index covering the years 1901−1930 in one alphabetical series'', Oxford University Press, 1937 *''The Chronicle of John of Worcester, 1118–1140: being the continuation of the 'Chronicon ex chronicis' of Florence of Worcester'', Clarendon Press, 1908 *''Genealogical Tables Illustrative of Modern History'', Clarendon Press, 1916 (with H. B. George) *''Some Oxfordshire Wills, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1393–1510'', Oxfordshire Record Society, 1958 (with Alice Beardwood) *''Henry William Carless Davis, 1874–1928; a memoir'', Constable and Co., 1933 (with

Austin Lane Poole Austin Lane Poole, FBA (6 December 1889 – 22 February 1963) was a British mediaevalist. Poole came from an academic lineage, being the son of Reginald Lane Poole (archive keeper at the University of Oxford), the nephew of Stanley Lane Poole ( ...

) *''Notas sobre la arquitectura románica inglesa, especialmente los rasgos que más la asemejan o distinguen del románico español'' (Notes on English Romanesque architecture, especially the features that most resemble or distinguish it from Spanish Romanesque), Maestre, 1953

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, John Reginald Homer 1882 births 1965 deaths People educated at Felsted School Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford Presidents of Trinity College, Oxford 20th-century British historians British architectural photographers