Sir,—The illustrations in the article on ‘Robert Dudley Edwards and the Quaker undercurrent to the Irish scientific history revolution’ (HI 33.4, July/August 2025) demonstrate the utility of costume studies in underpinning historical research.
The photograph of Edwards (p. 48) shows the sitter in the doctoral robes of a DLitt. of the NUI (not University of London), awarded for published work in 1937. The gown with bell-shaped sleeves and light-coloured facings, worn together with a hood with neckband bound with lighter material, is diagnostic of an Irish doctorate of the period. The robes of the equivalent University of London degree, unchanged since 1862, have sleeves with the lining exposed in short turn-ups fastened by cords at the cuffs. The hood is unbound.
The robes in the photograph captioned as showing David Quinn (p. 49) also help to correctly identify the sitter. Quinn did not hold an Irish doctorate, but took his Ph.D from London in 1934. The subject is in fact fellow historian Vivian Mercier (1919–89) in the robes of his Ph.D earned at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1945. He is shown in these robes in Sylvia Turner’s 2021 Offaly History blog on the lives of Quinn and Mercier (https://offalyhistoryblog.com/2021/06/09/clara-at-the-time-of-partition-the-lives-of-david-beers-quinn-historian-1909-2002-and-vivian-mercier-literary-historian-1919-1989-by-sylvia-turner/). Both were raised in Clara and educated at Protestant national schools in County Offaly.
Though the interpretation of the robes does not change the thrust of the article, it is notable that it depicts Quakers in academic dress, a denomination that typically rejects formal ceremonial attire. Academic costume here performs the role of secular vestments, adding authority and scholarly weight to their views on history and society, while retaining an (outwardly) apolitical stance.—Yours etc.,
ANDREW HOGG
Department of History of Art and Architecture
Trinity College, Dublin
Fair cop—on both counts!—Ed.