From the 1959 Addresses
The Horatian Society was founded by a number of friends, Judges and Barristers, who, having discharged their duties at the Law Courts, found relaxation in the evenings discussing the poet Horace and his works. Among these were Mr. Justice (Sir Henry) McCardie, Sir John (afterwards Viscount) Simon, Mrs Helena Normanton, who made history as the first woman barrister to be briefed at the High Court, the Central Criminal Court and at London Sessions, and was the first woman to prosecute on a capital charge, and Mr. L. C. Chalmers Hunt. There are no records of these impromptu meetings or gatherings, and no notes of the speakers or speeches made at the informal dinners which were later held at Kettners Restaurant in Romilly Street from 1933 to 1936. Lovers of Horace would look for a notice in The Times, inserted by Mr. Chalmers Hunt, inviting those who admire the poet to dine at Kettners Restaurant, giving a date and time. He used to act as Chairman, bringing an old calf-bound volume of Horace from which he would read a pertinent passage to invoke the spirit of the poet. A good supply of white wine from Orvieto was procured for these occasions which he assured diners was the nearest thing to Falernian. There was no guest of honour, the Chairman would call upon various people for a short speech or ask them to sing or recite an Ode of Horace. Our present Chairman has a happy recollection of a contribution by Mr. E. V. Knox (Evoe of Punch) on one occasion. These functions were always well attended and greatly enjoyed.
Mr. Justice McCardie was made first President in 1934[1] and those privileged to hear him treasure the memory of his attractive and delightful Presidential speech spoken in the first person as Horace recalling his early memories, his worthy father, his times in Athens, etc. It is indeed a loss that no copy is now available for inclusion in this short account of the Society.
The Society was put on a more formal basis in 1936[2] with Viscount Hereford succeeding Mr. Justice McCardie as President. Five Vice Presidents were elected, Viscount Hewart (Lord Chief Justice), Viscount Simon, Viscount Mersey, the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery who will long be remembered for the delightful way in which he presided at the Annual Dinners, and the Rt. Hon. Stanley (afterwards Earl) Baldwin, three times Prime Minister. Mr. W. M. Crook, another classical scholar, was elected Chairman; Mr. W. Lloyd-Willey, Honorary Treasurer ; Mr. E. L Sterling, Honorary Secretary; Mr. S. A. Courtauld, a great benefactor to the arts, and Mr. Willard Connely were elected members of the Committee. Since then with the exception of the war years and in 1949 an Annual Dinner has been held, a membership fee agreed upon and the old informal gatherings had come to an end.
On Mr Sterling’s resignation in 1937, Mr. W. V. Cooper became Honorary Secretary and members sadly missed him when owing to ill health he was no longer able to attend the Annual Dinners. He was succeeded in 1954 by Miss K. L. Steele. During the years 1955 and 1956 the Society suffered grievous losses in Mr L. S. Amery, President since 1954, Viscount Mersey, Chairman since 1947, and Sir Dougal Malcolm, Honorary Treasurer since 1952 ; also Sir Ronald Storrs, a member of the Committee. Mr. L. Patrick Wilkinson, King’s College, Cambridge, succeeded Mr. L. S. Amery as President ; Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor is now Chairman and Mr Willard Connely undertook the new office of Vice-Chairman. Lord Strabolgi was Honorary Treasurer for a short time but resigned because of other commitments.
The Dinners were resumed in 1947 at the Savoy Hotel but in spite of the excellence of the speeches, the food and the wine, of the bust of Horace (lent by Mr S. A. Courtauld) wreathed in laurels, the sprays of myrtle and rosemary, it was felt that the spirit of Horace was uneasy in the atmosphere of a large, modernised hotel; and so Lord Mersey approached the Lord Great Chamberlain who kindly gave permission to hold the dinners at the House of Lords. Members and their guests are now received in the beautiful room overlooking the river (except when the House is sitting late) and dine in the Peers’ dining room, a privilege which is very much appreciated.
Whilst the Society has been honoured on occasions by Addresses from professional scholars like Sir Maurice Bowra, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, and our President, Mr L. Patrick Wilkinson, most of the speeches have been made by men of affairs who have remembered their Horace. Among these were the Rt. Hon. Sir A. Duff Cooper (afterwards Viscount Norwich), Viscount Hewart, Viscount Simon, Viscount Soulbry and Sir Edward Marsh who strung sentences of Horace’s wittily together into an English speech.
A bi-millenary celebration dinner was held at Cordwainers Hall on the 19th July 1935. Viscount Hereford was in the Chair and the speakers were Viscount Simon and Mr. L. S Amery. More than one hundred members and their guests attended and three Odes of Horace were sung. A message from the Italian Ambassador, Count Grandi, was read by Lord Rennell (at one time Ambassador to Italy) who had been a member of a small but distinguished Oxford Horace Club, founded by Mr Arnold Ward, which existed from 1898 to 1901.
The following year, when the New York Classical Club held its Horatian celebration, a message, drafted by Dr. Cyril Bailey, Oxford Orator, was sent by the Society:
Horatiana in Anglia Sodalitas
Comites salutat trans mare.
Bis dena jam fugere abacta saecula
Ex quo, favente Apolline
Lucanus Apulusne quis dicat ? Puer
Vagitum in agris sustulit
Ludoque delectavit et jocos suos,
Et magna parcis his modis
Tenuare doctus aere vel perennius
Munus reliquit posteris.
Ergo, sodales, nunc bibendum et aurea
Tollenda rite pocula:
Priscum poetam nunc salutate[3], io,
Qui vivit idem hodie et viget
The Society was greatly honoured by the dedication of Sir Ronald Storrs’ last book, expanded from his charming and delightful address at the Annual Dinner in 1953. ‘To the Horatian Society and to the memory of Thomas Ethelbert Page whose editions have done more than any others for Horace in England and for youthful Horatians wherever English is understood.’
[1] 1933
[2] 1933
[3] The Committee feels ‘salutantes’ would be better.