Serie VEC - Cotton, Vere

3 diaries, paper (photocopies not originals)

The diaries throw light on Cambridge and College life for an undergraduate of the period. He meets A.C. Benson, Fr R.H. Benson, Jim Butler, Rupert Brooke, Charles Sayle, and Frank Salter. His main friends are C.R.D. Lumby, (off and on) George Mallory, and some Old Reptonians. He is keen on antiquarian books, rowing and Union debating. He and Lumby explore the College Old Library, and undertake some cataloguing [see esp. MCPP/VEC/1/2 page 53 (17 Feb 1908)]. He goes to some history lectures and Conservative Party meetings, and takes some Sunday School classes. His days are regularly punctuated with invitations to breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and coffee; he 'keeps' compulsory Chapels, and the occasional 'Albi' (i.e. visits to the Master's Lodge). He is a member of the Marlowe Society, the Kingsley Club, the Carlton Club, the "Pepys Society" (a literary group including Keable and Grimble). He knows how to evaluate sermons, prints and furniture.