Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 April 24

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 24

James Robert Porter

From talk page. Tevildo (talk) 19:34, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

My query is about James Robert Porter. Which was his mother´s name? Thanks.

Daniel; April 24th, 2016. ≈≈≈ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.51.245.163 (talk) 09:08, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Lion d'Argent inn, Calais

A question about The Roast Beef of Old England at the Language Desk led me to The Gate of Calais. I would be interested to know more about the Lion d'Argent inn - how long it continued as an English inn, does the building still exist, etc. Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 20:14, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

This travelogue written in 1814 lists a Lion d'Argent on Rue Neuve. It names the innkeeper as a "Ducroc". Here is the Rue Neuve in Calais. No idea if the Inn is still there, but it apparently was (or one of the same name) in 1814, and the street still appears to be there. --Jayron32 20:49, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) A brief mention of it in this book from 1817, when Calais was said to "abound with English residents, half-pay officers and persons of small income, who live here for one third less than in England". I imagine that there were rather fewer during the preceding decades during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Another mention here in 1822. This 1833 article mentions it as the rendez-vous of British cavalry officers during the occupation that followed the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. Anne Lister describes the hotel in her diary entry for 5 September 1822. Alansplodge (talk) 21:02, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

A quick look on Google Maps shows that all of the buildings currently on Rue Neuve are fairly modern. Calais was badly damaged by bombing during World War Two, so it seems unlikely that this particular old inn has survived. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.132.106.10 (talk) 16:18, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

A lot of the damage was caused by the Siege of Calais (1940); it looked like this straight afterwards. There was a second battle there in 1944 called Operation Undergo. The bombs didn't help of course. Alansplodge (talk) 19:14, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

There was indeed a lot of damage in 1940 - caused by German bombing and shelling. My father was actually there, in the British garrison). There was further heavy bombing by the allies prior to D-Day as they were trying to convince the Germans that they would be landing in the Calais area, rather than in Normandy. There was then further damage during the capture of the town by allied forces - and even after that when the RAF hit it by mistake!81.132.106.10 (talk) 14:45, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

I found in DICTIONNAIRE DE PERSONNAGES DE HISTOIRE CALAISIENNE an entry for "QUILLACQ Auguste (Calais, 1793 – 1865, Calais) - Fils de Louis Quillacq, auprès duquel il fait son apprentissage avec son cousin Léon Dessin. Il participe aux campagnes de 1813 et 1814. En 1822, il reprend l’hôtel du Lyon d’Argent, rue Neuve, et le dirige jusqu’à sa retraite en 1860." (Son of Louis Quillacq , with whom he served his apprenticeship with his cousin Léon Dessin. He participated in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. In 1822 he took over the hotel Lyon d’Argent, Rue Neuve, and directs it until his retirement in 1860).

"Hôtel Dessin" gets a mention in The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens [1]. Alansplodge (talk) 21:01, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

And finally: L'intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux, Volume 102 (1939) says: "Jamais l'hotel en en question n'a porté le nom de Dessin avant l'arrivée de cette famille a Calais. Cet hôtel s'appella du < Lion d'Argent >, rue Neuve et < Hôtel d'Angleterre >, rue Royale." (p. 354). Alansplodge (talk) 21:19, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

• Thanks everyone. DuncanHill (talk) 01:52, 28 April 2016 (UTC)