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Tuesday

Ernest Dowson Contemporary Art Project

Six degrees of decadence: 31st May - 7th June 2008

Throughout the week of Brockley Max, Jam Circus will play host to Six degrees of decadence a new digital-based art project based on the life and works of the Poet Ernest Dowson which playfully explores ideas of connection, truth, history and technology.

Dowson was an English poet, novelist and writer of short stories associated with the Decadent movement and is buried in Brockley Cemetery just a few hundred yards from there. As a contributor to the 'Yellow Book' and 'Savoy' magazines of the 1890s and a member of the Rhymers' Club, he worked and socialised with better-known contemporaries such as Oscar Wilde and WB Yeats, and the artist Aubrey Beardsley, who illustrated several of Dowson's works. Despite such renowned acquaintances Dowson's own life mirrored Yeats' idea of 'the tragic generation' - destined for failure and in many cases early death - with Dowson dying penniless in 1900, aged 32.

The larger part of Dowson's life and works remain unknown to most people, however both he and his writing inspired many other people, words and works. This is the starting point of Six degrees of decadence.

Throughout the week they will trace some of the associations and influences of Dowson using the password for Jam Circus' wireless network. Each day the password will be changed to reveal a another Dowson connection. By logging onto the wireless network there you will be taking part in a collaboration that ultimately produces a new visual artwork; specific to Jam Circus, the week and the amount of time that you spend connected to the network. As with Dowson, what you choose to use the network for remains invisible to people, but the time you spend connected will impact upon the final work.

This is the first off-site art project of Tea Leaf Arts and the start of a series of commissions and public artworks that aims to engage broader audiences in the making, understanding and enjoyment of contemporary art using everyday technologies and places.

Posted by Patrick Napier at 21:32

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History and Notable Burials

Probably the most interesting (albeit gruesome) piece of history in Brockley Cemetery is a monument erected to the memory of Jane Clouson.

The monument was paid for by public money and stands alone amongst the trees - a praying child sits on top of a pillar.

Below the figure is an inscription detailing the horrific events surrounding her brutal murder on April 25th, 1871:

"A motherless girl who was murdered in Kidbrooke Lane Eltham age 17 in 1871. Her last words were, "Oh, let me die". "

The Scottish Times

News and intelligence from Scotland, and around the globe. Vol. II–No. 38.] Edinburgh, October 11, 1871. Price 3d.

[from Northstar Creative.co.uk]

GREENWICH MURDERER ACQUITTED. YESTERDAY, the Pook family of Greenwich, London, were forced to leave their family home, so strong was the feeling of the local community against them – the animosity having arisen from Mr E. Pooks recent acquittal at his trial, for the murder of Miss J. Clouson.

For anyone who has not been following the case, the public anger and resentment is quite understandable when one considers the undisputed evidence, in that: Jane Clouson was 17 year old when she gained employment at the Pook’s residence, that 3 years later Mr E. Pooks overcame her virtue, and that earlier this year the unfortunate girl found herself pregnant.

It was also revealed from testimonies that Miss J. Clouson had been led to believe Mr E. Pooks was going to make a respectable woman of her and, on the evening of her demise, she was going to meet him.

What follows next is a clear and exact series of events, which only a judge – with the mighty burden of the Law weighing down on his shoulders – could find circumstantial.

Sometime later on that fateful evening, a Constable discovered Jane Clouson in a wretched condition, crawling on Kidbrooke Lane with her head battered so severely, that one eye was hanging from its socket. She never fully regained consciousness, and died later in Guy’s Hospital.

Despite the facts that the accused was seen running from the lane, and that the murder weapon found at the scene – a hammer – had been sold to him by a local shopkeeper some days earlier, and that his trousers were covered in blood and mud : there still remained a “reasonable doubt”.

Mr Pooks claimed that he had spent the entire evening, awaiting with amorous intent, outside another ladies’ house in Greenwich – and this claim, much against everyone’s wishes, could not be disproved.

Notable burials:

Sir William Eames (1821-1897) Marine engineer

Sir John Gilbert (1817 - 1897) Illustrator, drawing for the 'Illustrated London News' and designed a cover for 'Punch'

Sir George Grove (1820 - 1900) First director of the Royal College of Music in 1882 - author of 'Dictionary of Music and Musicians)

Sir William Hardy (1807 - 1887) Deputy Keeper of Public Records 1878 - 1886

Sir Alexander Nisbet (1812 - 1892) Inspector General of the Royal Navy and honorary physician to the Queen

William Stephens (1817 - 1871) Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of England

[information from London Cemeteries - Hugh Mellor]

Taken from London Necropolis

 
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