Archive of the month

The Archive of the Month feature raises awareness amongst students and staff about the variety of material that we hold. In particular, the old Bangor photographs appear to spark a lot of interest and debate on the University’s Facebook pages.

Every month, an item is selected to be showcased. The item is scanned and a short piece of text written about its history.

April 2018

“Weight of Everybody” : An intriguing 19th century notebook

This image is taken from a notebook that contains various random figures dated between 1850 and 1902, which on closer inspection reveal themselves to be data regarding the height and weight of different individuals. It appears that many entries relate to members of the Pennant family of Penrhyn Castle, however, the names of quite a few important figures in society are also recorded. For example, in the very first few pages the weight and height of the Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Mary and Prince Adolphus are noted for the year 1850. The reason for creating such a record, simply entitled “Weight of everybody”, remains a mystery, as does the identity of the author. Considering the range of personal names noted in this book, it is easy to conclude that most of the visitors to the castle had their measurements recorded.

The weighing chair no longer exists at Penrhyn Castle, but below is a photograph of one that can be seen at the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex.

This "Archive of the Month" was created by Lynette Hunter, Archivist

Click on the links below to view all our showcased documents.