Founder’s family makes donation to Western

Print

By Heather Travis
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Two great, great grandsons of Bishop Isaac Hellmuth made a pilgrimage to The University of Western Ontario last week to make a donation of family artifacts to the McIntosh Gallery.
 
 
 Bishop Isaac Hellmuth’s great, great grandsons Richard Ellis (centre) and John Broomfield (right), donate miniature portraits of Hellmuth and his wife, Catherine Maria Evans to the McIntosh Gallery at Western. President Paul Davenport (left) accepts the gift.
 
On Sept. 18, Richard Ellis of Cumbria, England and John Broomfield of Creemore, Ont. visited the university founded by Hellmuth to give two miniature portraits of the second Bishop of the Diocese of Huron and his wife, Catherine Maria Evans.
 
The family was welcomed by President Paul Davenport, saying Hellmuth’s memory is honoured at Western in various ways, including the Hellmuth Award for Achievement in Research which is granted annually to faculty members who have made significant contributions in research and gained an international reputation for their work.
 
“Bishop Hellmuth is still present on our campus,” he says. In 1878, Hellmuth founded Western University of London, Ontario, which was later renamed The University of Western Ontario.
 
Ellis inherited the gold-framed portraits from his mother, whose lineage is connected to Hellmuth. Concerned about the fate of the paintings in the future, he decided to return the Bishop, literally and symbolically, to his Western roots.
 
“The best place for them to come to a rest was at Western for the pleasure of future Hellmuth scholars,” he says.
 
Becoming enamored by his family history, Ellis read Hellmuth’s biography, ‘This Dreamer,’ and visited his gravestone before continuing his pilgrimage to Western. This was the first time Ellis had ever visited the university.
 
Broomfield, who is also connected to Hellmuth by his mother, was pleased to reconnect with his past.
 
“My mother … she would be very happy her son has come back and re-established the connection,” he says. “It’s great to be here.”  
 
The portraits will be placed in the McIntosh Gallery’s Collection/Storage and Study Centre. The gallery will also be conducting research to find out more information about the undated artifacts.
 
“This is a wonderful gift,” says Davenport. “We will treasure them.”  
  

Also from this web page:

About

Hours

Weekdays
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(holidays excluded)

Contact

Publisher:
Helen Connell (hconnell@uwo.ca)

Editor:
Jason Winders (newseditor@uwo.ca)

Reporter/Photographer:
Paul Mayne (pmayne@uwo.ca)

Reporter/Photographer:
Heather Travis (htravis2@uwo.ca)

Advertising Coordinator:
Denise Jones (advertise@uwo.ca)

Off-Campus Advertising Sales:
Chris Amyot, Campus Ad (campusad@sympatico.ca)

National Advertising Representative:
Campus Plus

Phone:
519-661-2045

Fax:
519-661-3921

Mail:
Western News, Suite 360
Westminster Hall
The University of Western Ontario, London N6A 3K7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western provides the best student experience among Canada's leading research-intensive universities.