Rev. Jeremy Howat’s donation: documenting British presence in Argentina

On By europeancollectionsIn Latin American, Spanish, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic Liaison

Cambridge University Library has received a collection of books donated by the family of the late Rev. Jeremy Howat, an Emmanuel College alumnus who spent several years as a vicar in Argentina in the last part of the 20th century (firstly in Hurlingham and Devoto, and later in Rosario and Los Cocos). The collection features items both in Spanish and English and reflects Rev. Howat’s interest in Argentinian and South American history in general and in the presence of British settlers and missionaries in Argentina in particular. The book donation is a welcome addition to our Library and wonderfully expands our pre-existing holdings on these topics.

Images from “Album recuerdo de Buenos Aires : vistas modernas”, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.

The Library holds three titles published by Howat:

He also compiled an indexed collection of records (including baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials and census documents)  and publications in a unique online resource: British Settlers in Argentina and Uruguay.

The presence of Welsh settlers in Patagonia, in the province of Chubut, is well known, documented and studied. A simple iDiscover search with the terms “Welsh” and “Patagonia” gives over 60 results, featuring titles in Welsh, English and Spanish, published both in Argentina and the UK and spanning from the late 19th century to 2021. “A Welsh song in Patagonia”, the memoirs of Baptist pastor William Casnodyn Rhys, who arrived in Chubut in 1865 and was among the first settlers, comes from the Howat donation to enrich this selection.

Most interestingly though, the donation includes titles that relate to a lesser-known side of British colonisation of Argentina: that of their presence in the central province of Santa Fe. Since the mid-19th century, the Argentinian state was attempting to define, and push, its territorial borders and its role as a world exporter of agricultural goods (mainly to the UK). The province of Santa Fe was at the centre of these interests. Successive governments carried out bloody campaigns to displace and decimate the indigenous peoples that populated the territories while also promoting the immigration of European settlers to acquire and work its fertile lands. Agricultural colonies prospered in Santa Fe, especially in the south and to this day, many villages still have names from the British Isles: Armstrong, Murphy, Hughes, Wheelwright, Runciman. With Rev. Howat’s books, which feature correspondence, photographs and facsimile documents and newspapers cuttings, we have a chance to read about the lives, views and experiences of -mainly but not only- British landowners and settlers.

  • Historias de pioneros: en el Pájaro Blanco del norte santafesino. By Guido Abel Tourn Pavillon. Alejandra: 2010. The book includes biographies of the British settlers in “Alexandra Colony”, named after the then Princess of Wales and funded and financed by the J. Thomson T. Bonar & Co. bank from London.
  • Colonia Alejandra, un lugar del Pájaro Blanco. By Guido Abel Tourn Pavillon. Santa Fe: 1986. With maps, facsimiles and descriptions of the colony’s activities.
  • El Clan Morgan. By Guido Abel Tourn Pavillon. Alejandra: 2011. David Morgan was among those who, after joining his Welsh countrymen and women in the Mimosa ship destined for Patagonia, parted with them and decided to come to the more hospitable zones of the north.
  • Alfred Benitz: pioneer, sportsman and gentleman. Edited by Olga Benitz. Rosario: 1952. Benitz was Californian. Settlers from “Colonia California” were the first to occupy the territories in the north of the province.
  • Irlandeses: Eduardo Casey, vida y obra. By Roberto E. Landaburu. Venado Tuerto: 1995. Eduardo Casey was a second-generation Irish man who developed great economic interests in the south of Santa Fe province, having acquired huge quantities of land and even funded the development of what is now a city, Venado Tuerto.
  • Gringos. By Roberto E. Landaburu. Venado Tuerto: 1991. Unlike in countries such as Mexico, where it is used to describe people coming from the United States, “gringos” in Argentina is mainly used to designate Italians. This book uses the term even more broadly and describes and documents the lives of Italian, Catalan, Basque, Spanish, Croatian, Syrian and Lebanese settlers.
  • Argentina from a British point of view ; and Notes on Argentine life. Edited by Campbell P. Ogilvie. London: 1910. The author was asked to write a paper on the country for the Royal Society of Arts; it includes notes on the Santa Fe Land Company (of which Ogilvie was the chairman), photographs and several chapters with personal and anecdotal accounts.

The collection also features memoirs of Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries in South America:

The donation also includes some titles on Tierra del Fuego, the province at the southernmost tip of the South American mainland.

An iDiscover search with the words “Jeremy Howat former owner” will lead to the whole list of books donated by his family, whom we are grateful to.

Clara Panozzo

Leave a comment