Oxford at the International Anatomical Congress in 1950 - 19th post

Emmie Kreyberg, Aerum Barunsveien 5e, Oure Ullern Norveg OvereUilern

We were housed in the dorms which were not co-ed. So my dad was at St. John's College

St Johns College


St Johns College


St. Johns College

and my mother, my sister and I were at St. Mary's In the Woods.

St Mary's in the Woods

There were some books and personal things in the rooms, and since I was a child who was always reading, I picked up one of the books and read it. The book I picked was by C.S. Lewis and it was Screwtape Letters. This was a book which takes the form of a series of letters from a senior Demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, a Junior Tempter This book was written before the Chronicles of Narnia and was probably not suitable for a 12 year old girl.

We tried punting


My sister and me on a punt - man who rents the punts holding it to the bank


Dad punting on the Thames - at one point he lost the pole


Daddy took a lot of photos of the thatched roof cottages.

thatched roof cottage


lawn and house


My sister siting on a stone post with me


Oxford - cottage with mossy roof

During our time in Oxford we made several expeditions to other nearby towns such as Cambridge, Stratford on Avon and Stokes Poges

My mom was an English lit major in college, and she was really into English poetry. So when we visited England in 1950, one thing we absolutely had to do was visit all the famous sites that she'd read about including Poets Corner in Westminister Abbey.

Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' is believed to have been written in the churchyard of the St Giles Church in Stoke Poges. (Stoke means Hamlet, and Poges was the name of the family there). Apparently Gray wrote his Elegy when his mother died. And Thomas Gray was buried at St Giles on August 6, 1771. So we went to Stoke Poges.

St. Giles church


tour at Poges Church (grave Gray's Elegy)


Memorial plaque

As the plaque says, the tomb of Thomas Gray was buried next to his mother Dorothy Gray at his request. Her sister Mary Antrobus is also buried in the vault. The tomb of Thomas Gray is immediately below the east window of the Hastings Chapel.

Stokes Poges - double exposure