Dunn Family Autograph Album of ~230 Autographs from Quebec, Honduras & England, with Lord Kelvin, Royalty, Anglican Bishops, United Fruit and Subsidiaries, Politicians, Artists, Clockmakers & Signed Ephemera and More

On offer is an autograph album belonging to the Dunn clerical family, containing approximately 230 autograph entries representing approximately 217 different signers. The collection combines signatures written directly on album leaves, mounted autograph slips, personal inscriptions, signed correspondence and a church-dedication petition, together with newspaper clippings. Contributors include members of the British royal family, actors, politicians, Canadian and West Indian bishops, Central American commercial figures, naval officers, Lord Kelvin, and English clockmakers. Dated entries extend from the 1890s through at least September 1948; a later inscription may read 1960.

The album’s early entries centre on the Quebec circle of Andrew Hunter Dunn, Bishop of Quebec, suggesting that it began within his household. Its subsequent geographical sequence closely follows his son Harold Curling Dunn, from missionary work in Tela, Honduras, to parish appointments in England. Harold’s brother Edward Arthur Dunn, Bishop of British Honduras and later Archbishop of the West Indies, appears repeatedly. Although the precise circumstances of its earliest ownership and transfer are unestablished, the signatures, family gatherings and correspondence firmly connect the collection with the Dunn family.

Science, royalty and the stage

Among the principal individual autographs is a mounted signature of Lord Kelvin, William Thomson, the physicist associated with the absolute temperature scale and submarine telegraph engineering.

A page dated June 1914 bears the signatures of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, his wife Louise Margaret, and their daughter Patricia [Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, Princess Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth]. Another records the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen  [John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen, later 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair] at “The Citadel, Quebec, June 24, 1895.” This being during his time as Canada’s Governor General. These entries connect the album with Canada’s vice-regal society and the British royal family.

Theatrical and literary associations include William Hunter Kendal and Isa Bowman, the actress, friend of Lewis Carroll and author of a memoir about him. Bowman’s autograph provides a connection with Carroll’s personal circle. Other notable contributors include Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen; Sydney H. Waterlow, former Lord Mayor of London; and Edgar Horne, whose 1898 inscription records fifty years as a director of Prudential.

Quebec and an international church community

The Quebec entries evoke a bishop’s household receiving visitors from Canada, Britain and the United States. Richard W. Norman, Dean and Rector of Quebec, signed in May 1895. In September 1905, Daniel Sylvester Tuttle expressed his appreciation “in grateful memory of generous hospitality,” giving a personal glimpse of the circumstances in which his autograph was obtained.

Other churchmen include Charles Perry Scott, Bishop in North China; William Carpenter Bompas, associated with northern Canadian missions; Frederick George Scott, the Canadian poet and military chaplain; Ethelbert Talbot; Randall Davidson; and numerous Canadian and West Indian bishops. The collection also includes Orthodox clergy and contributors with African and Asian connections.

Several churchmen signed more than once, sometimes using different episcopal titles. Charles Hamilton, for example, appears in Niagara and Ottawa forms as well as under his name with an archiepiscopal designation. Such entries preserve changes in office alongside the family’s continuing relationships.

Honduras, United Fruit and maritime connections

The Central American material forms a distinctive part of the album. During Harold Curling Dunn’s ministry at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Tela, contributors included people associated with railways, fruit companies, banking, consular service and shipping.

Victor Macomber Cutter, vice-president of the United Fruit Company, and Richard Henry Goodell, manager of its Tela Railroad subsidiary, signed on March 25, 1920. Other entries include John Hepburn, British consul at Puerto Cortes; Fred. C. N. Dodd of the Cuyamel Fruit Company; and A. Hopton Jones, who records an affiliation with Banco Atlántida.

Maritime entries name the S.S. Zacapa and S.S. Manistee, while naval contributors record service aboard HMS Indomitable, HMS Cambrian and HMS Essex. These inscriptions place the family’s church connections within the wider world of Caribbean travel, commerce and British overseas service.

Signed letters, the Tela petition and inserted material

The album includes two signed letters, one signed petition and two newspaper clippings, alongside additional tipped-in signature sheets and numerous mounted autograph fragments:

• Hugh Cecil’s typed letter signed, May 23, 1934, addressed to the Reverend J. Williams, thanking him for a rural-decanal conference resolution and the Bishop of St Albans’ letter.

• Ernest Edward Holmes’s two-page signed letter, November 3, 1922, addressed to Harold Dunn concerning the vacant living of Quarley. Holmes, Archdeacon of London and chaplain to Queen Alexandra, proposes recommending Dunn to the Queen and discusses combining parish duties with missionary work. The letter documents the transition from Dunn’s Central American ministry to his subsequent English rectorship.

• The typed petition for dedication of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Tela, December 22, 1921, addressed to Bishop Edward Arthur Dunn and bearing eight signatures, including Harold as rector and Richard H. Goodell.

• A separate dedication entry in the album bears three signatures, including those of both Dunn brothers and T. C. Macklem, former Provost of Trinity College, Toronto.

• Two Quarley newspaper clippings, one concerning the dedication of the bells and belfry, the other discussing the Cox family and its banking connections.

• Four further explicitly recorded tipped-in signature sheets, carrying eight signatures altogether: a five-signature sheet including the Wolfendale names, an unidentified “Pat L-C…” inscription, Paul B. Bull’s signed letterheaded paper and James Marsden’s dated inscription.

Mounted slips and correspondence fragments include Kelvin, Bowman, Kendal, Davidson and other contributors. The inserted material gives the album both documentary depth and a variety of autograph formats.

Northill and the City of London: Dunn Family Gatherings, Grocers & Clockmakers

The album’s Northill entries bring together the Dunn family, English parish life and London’s historic livery companies. A group entry commemorates the unveiling of the Thomas Tompion memorial plaque at Northill Parish Church on April 1, 1933. Its nine signatures include Bernard Kettle, Master of the Clockmakers’ Company; Percy Webster, Past Master; and Cyril F. Johnston, alongside other attendees, Harold Curling Dunn as rector and S. H. Wells as rector’s warden.

A seven-signature family gathering dated September 14, 1938, headed “St. Mary’s Rectory, Northill, Beds.”, places the wider Dunn family within Harold’s parish household. Edward Arthur Dunn signs as Bishop of Honduras and Archbishop of the West Indies. Fellow signers include his brothers Canon William Alexander Dunn and Ernest Theodore Dunn, whose family genealogy records Grocers’ Company associations dated 1897 and 1899, respectively.

The Grocers’ connection also extends to Northill itself. Another album signer, Clement Michael Greenstreet, had been appointed rector under the Company’s patronage in 1891. Together, these entries connect the family’s clerical careers and personal relationships with the traditions of London’s livery companies, adding a distinctive strand of civic and clockmaking history to the album.

Preserved together, the album’s signatures and inserted papers document an unusually broad range of encounters: Quebec episcopal hospitality and vice-regal society, Victorian science and theatre, West Indian church leadership, the fruit-company economy of Honduras, maritime travel and English parish life. Its interest lies both in the notable individual autographs and in the dated gatherings and correspondence that connect them.

The Album’s Ownership: The Dunn Family

This album appears to have developed within the family circle of Andrew Hunter Dunn (1839–1914), Bishop of Quebec, before being continued principally by his son, the Reverend Harold Curling Dunn. Its early Quebec signatures and inscriptions recalling hospitality suggest an origin in the bishop’s household, although Andrew’s personal ownership cannot be established. Later entries closely follow Harold’s ministry at Tela, Honduras, and subsequently at Quarley, Northill and Rempstone in England, strongly supporting his role as its long-term keeper. Signatures and documents associated with his brother, Edward Arthur Dunn (1870–1955), Bishop of British Honduras and later Archbishop of the West Indies, add a further family connection. Combining collected autograph slips, correspondence and records of visitors and parish occasions, the volume is best understood as a Dunn family album, probably maintained chiefly by Harold and incorporating material gathered through his father’s and brother’s extensive ecclesiastical and social networks.

Note: The approximate totals of 230 autograph entries representing approximately 217 different signers account for known repeat signers. While thoroughly researched, some signatures within the book remain unidentified or provisionally attributed. Signatures on the letters and petition are included within the autograph total.

Biographical Notes on Key Figures Within the Dunn Family 

Andrew Hunter Dunn and his sons Edward Arthur and Harold Curling provide the main family history behind the album. A fourth clergyman, their son and brother Canon William Alexander Dunn, also belongs in the account. 

Andrew Hunter Dunn (1839–1914), fifth Bishop of Quebec

Andrew Hunter Dunn was born at Saffron Walden, Essex, on October 16, 1839. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he graduated in mathematics in 1863 and was ordained in 1864. His early ministry was in London: he served at St Mark’s, Notting Hill, before moving to All Saints, South Acton, as curate in 1870 and vicar in 1872. He remained at South Acton until his appointment as Bishop of Quebec in 1892, an office he held until his death. In 1866 he married Alice Hunter, his first cousin, who became an active partner in his church and charitable work. 

His Canadian episcopate involved extensive travel through a diocese whose scattered congregations were not always accessible by road. He supported church expansion, raised funds and maintained close ties with Anglican institutions in Britain. He founded the Quebec Diocesan Gazette in 1894 and published devotional works. At Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, he served as vice-president and subsequently as president from 1906 to 1914. He died suddenly at sea on November 14, 1914.

For the album, Andrew supplies the most plausible setting for its early Quebec material. His household’s ecclesiastical and social connections explain the presence of visiting bishops and vice-regal figures. 

Edward Arthur Dunn (1870–1955), Bishop of British Honduras and Archbishop of the West Indies

Edward Arthur Dunn, Andrew and Alice’s son and Harold’s elder brother, was educated at Marlborough College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and ordained in 1895. His early career combined missionary work, parish ministry and university teaching in Quebec. The diocesan historical account records these appointments:

He also served as his father’s domestic chaplain. These appointments establish substantial Canadian connections before his move to Central America. 

Edward was consecrated Bishop of British Honduras at St Michael’s Cathedral, Barbados, on August 12, 1917, and enthroned at St John’s Cathedral, Belize, on October 12, 1917. His diocese extended beyond British Honduras—present-day Belize—to Anglican communities across Central America. His work required extensive travel, fundraising and the development of churches, schools and diocesan administration. Following the destructive 1931 hurricane, he postponed contemplated retirement to help rebuild. On December 4, 1936, he was elected Archbishop of the West Indies; he retired in 1943 and died on January 11, 1955. 

His signatures as “E. Arthur Dunn, Bishop Elect of British Honduras,” “Arthur Honduras,” and later “Archbishop of the West Indies” record different stages of this career. His brother Harold’s parish at Tela fell within his episcopal responsibilities, explaining their joint appearance in the album’s church-dedication material.

Harold Curling Dunn (c.1881/1882–1961), missionary and rector

Harold Curling Dunn was a younger son of Andrew and Alice Dunn. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, receiving his BA in 1908 and MA in 1912. Ordained deacon in 1908 and priest in 1910, he began his ministry in Canada, including service at St John’s, Port Arthur, Ontario. In 1913–1914 he served as domestic chaplain to the Bishop of Quebec, his father, before undertaking missionary work at Kingsey, Quebec, from 1914 to 1918. 

From 1918 to 1922, Harold served at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Tela, Honduras. This is the appointment directly associated with the album’s Tela inscriptions, fruit-company contributors and December 1921 church-dedication documents. Returning to England, he became Rector of Quarley, Hampshire, in 1923, moving to Northill, Bedfordshire, in 1930. He remained there until 1943. 

Harold was instituted as Rector of All Saints, Rempstone, Nottinghamshire, on May 21, 1943. He retired in 1954 and was buried at Rempstone on December 7, 1961. That is his documented burial date, rather than an established date of death. 

Harold is the strongest candidate for the album’s principal later custodian. Its sequence of Quebec, Tela, Quarley, Northill and later English material closely follows his movements. The inserted November 1922 letter from Ernest Edward Holmes, proposing his recommendation to Queen Alexandra for the Quarley living, provides particularly direct evidence of the book’s connection with him.

His birth year remains unsettled between 1881 and 1882. The family-maintained genealogy records his first wife as Helen France (1878–1947), his second wife as Evelyn Marchant, and a daughter as Agnes Naomi Dunn (1917–1994). These family details should be attributed to that genealogy pending confirmation in civil or parish records.

Canon William Alexander Dunn (1875–1958), another clerical brother

William Alexander Dunn was another son of Andrew and Alice and the brother whose autograph appears as “W Alex Dunn.” A contemporary 1910 clerical directory lists him as acting chaplain at Guy’s Hospital Chapel, London. He subsequently served as Vicar of Kingswood, Surrey, and Honorary Canon of Southwark Cathedral. On August 17, 1911, he married Freda Marion Portal. Their children included Ursula Mary Dunn and Andrew Hunter Dunn. The family genealogy gives William’s lifespan as 1875–1958. 

William therefore adds a further English clerical connection to the album’s family gathering. The start and end dates of his Kingswood incumbency and Southwark canonry remain unverified.