Both The OxStu and The Times reported last
week that two pictures were stolen from the Oxford Union Society,
but it would appear as though both newspapers may have been
mistaken. One of the ‘missing’ pictures is a portrait of
former Union President and British Prime Minister William Ewart
Gladstone, yet we are told it is not an “original”
print, despite having some sentimental value. The other missing item is the debate order of 9 February 1933
– a record of the day on which declared they would not fight
for the nation, passing the motion by 275 votes to 153. The
result of the debate lead Winston Churchill to famously condemn
the society. Georgina Costa, this term’s President of the Union, told
Cherwell that the pictures are no longer on the society’s
walls, but that there are copies in the Union’s archives.
She said that the situation “looked more serious than it
was” at that time. Meanwhile journalist Andrew Pierce, who wrote the article in The
Times, responded to users of website Oxford Gossip ridiculing
the story by emailing the site moderator stating: "if the
presidednt [sic] of the union says its the only one, i thought
that would be good enough". The archives are not at the Union’s buildings at Frewin
Court, and so it has not yet been possible to ascertain whether
the pictures, or copies of them, are definitely there.
Investigations are said to be continuing.ARCHIVE: 2nd week TT 2004
Union theft confusion
