NEWS RELEASES
A Big Sussex Man
9 June 2008
There are men who are minnows, minor characters in the drama and history of Sussex, and then there are Big Sussex men, those who are great characters from Sussex who are also big players on the world stage. What better way for Horsham Museum to celebrate the Big Sussex Week than extend the exhibition on one of Sussex’s Big men – Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Although physically he was seen as a slight character, not a “big” man in the way we think of big, but even this image of him is wrong for in reality he was known as a ferocious fighter and had a reputation at Oxford for defending his corner. But the exhibition “Shelley, Family and Friends” which has been extended until 21st June for the Big Sussex Week shows his other sides: his Sussex roots, his creative writings, and portrays him in the context of his family and friends, Mary, Byron, Leigh Hunt and others.
The exhibition is a remarkable event in the town’s history, as never before, or ever likely again, the town museum has been able to borrow unique Shelley artefacts. From Eton comes not only locks of hair from the poet and his second wife, the authoress of Frankenstein, but also the entry book signed by the young Shelley as he entered the portals of the famous public school. From Harrow comes the book given by Shelley to Lord Byron.
But for The Big Sussex Week it is his Sussex roots that may appeal to the visitor; on display is the unique Field Book, a superb demonstration of the map maker’s art, showing all the Sussex property owned by Shelley’s father Timothy, which would eventually belong to Shelley himself. Although noted as a poet and a radical author he was also in line to become a major Sussex landowner with lands stretching as far afield as Worthing.
The exhibition will now finish on 21st June and is an opportunity that real lovers of Sussex won’t want to miss – a fantastic opportunity to see why Shelley is a Big Sussex Man for a Big Sussex Week.
For further information contact Jeremy Knight, Curator and Heritage Officer
Horsham Museum, 9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959 Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
Web: www.horshammuseum.org