There are some unfathomable mysteries in life. One is why John Betjeman called his teddy bear Archibald Ormsby-Gore. He took Archie with him to Oxford and Archie appears in Brideshead Revisited as Sebastian Flyte’s teddy, Aloysius.
It’s only a guess but I reckon Waugh chose the name Aloysius as the main Catholic Church in Oxford is St Aloysius Gonzaga. Next time I am in Oxford I will pay a visit but until then I can tell you that it was built in 1875 by an architect whose mother with some foresight thought to christen him Aloysius – Joseph Aloysius Hansom. He was a prolific Victorian architect specialising in ecclesiastic and civic commissions. He also found time to invent the Hansom cab and founded The Builder, a weekly magazine. His most prominent building in London is the Servite Church in the Fulham Road.
St Aloysius himself was born into a rich and aristocratic family near Mantua in 1568. To his father’s consternation he decided to renounce his inheritance and became a Jesuit. He died aged twenty-three after ministering to victims of a plague in Rome.
…….and I always thought it was the other way around with the Fathers naming their church after Sebastian’s bear. They do a very good sung latin Mass here on Sundays with all the whistles and bells. The choir’s singing is sublime.
You may be right in your guess on why Archibald Ormsby- Gore became Aloysius in Brideshead Revisited ( I don’t know) but if you are I think the bear may not have relished the Catholic connection – he was, after all, a Strict Baptist. Incidentally his Chistian name came from one of George Robey’s music hall songs and he flew on home made wings over the Berkshire downs ( see Betjeman’s Archie & The Stict Baptists published 1977 ).
Happy New Year!
I am reminded of Lord Lyell. He was a PUSS in the Northern Ireland Office 84 to 89. During a documentary dealing with weightier matters, he allowed himself to be filmed unpacking at Stormont. On top of his suitcase were at least 5 teddy bears. As a skilled politician, I am sure that if one had been called Aloysius then another would have been Wesley, or perhaps Adams and Paisley.
I seem to remember that he had a prodigious appetite on one occasion having three helpings of bread and butter pudding in the H of L dining room. The seconds and thirds must have been for the teddies.