1
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Graffiti in Essex
BY LAURENCE S. HARLEY, B.SC., M.I.E.E.
[Delivered 31 March 1950]
In the study of written records of the past, most historians
have directed their attention to important, formal documents;
nevertheless, in parallel with these often celebrated records, there
exist also many comparatively unimportant, unofficial, brief, and
informal records. All these are found on materials which fall
naturally into two main groups; I refer to the papyrus-paper-
parchment group and the stone-brick-wood group. On the latter
group of materials, records are usually cut or scratched, although
also they may be written or scribbled if the surface be smooth
enough. It is about informal records incised or scribbled on build-
ing materials of the stone-brick-wood group that I intend to talk
to you today.
Because "scribble" or "scratch" is the operative idea, the
Italian word "sgraffitare" (noun "sgraffito") has been widely
adopted to connote these informal records; the word is usually
written and pronounced in English—"graffito". Its use is more
often confined in English to incised letters, numerals, or designs,
although I would not exclude written graffiti from sharing the
term, i.e., those cases in which the marks are superficial, and not
incised.
There is, for me, a great deal of interest in these spontaneous
scribblings, far more likely to be truly expressive of the scribbler's
mood and thoughts than more formal and studied inscriptions
cut by a craftsman to order. Even, indeed, when we encounter
only initial letters with or without a date, when the story behind
the graffito cannot be immediately obvious, there is some special
flavour of human interest in the brief record.
In the hope that you may find the study of graffiti in Essex as
interesting and informative as I do, I beg you to think with me
about the subject for a little while.