THE brave man pictured retrieving a chamberpot from the top of Martyrs’ Memorial in Oxford has been identified as steeplejack George Collins.

He was perched precariously on a ladder, with one hand on the stonework and the pot in the other, with no harness, helmet or other safety device.

He volunteered to help after the pot had been left high on the monument as a result of a student prank.

Mr Collins was identified by his great niece, Myrtle Cracknell, who read our story of the November 1913 incident (Memory Lane, February 17).

Mrs Cracknell, who lives in Bournemouth, writes: “George Collins (1881-1940), my great uncle, was a steeplejack and stonemason and as a small child, I recall him as a large, strong character, a bachelor, living with his sister, my grandmother.

“My grandmother had a framed newspaper photograph of the event and hanging from the frame were two small broken pinnacles from the memorial, which her brother had put in his pocket as a souvenir.

“Years later, my mother gave the photograph and stones to the Oxford Museum, but we never saw them on display.

“As a child, I was told the history of the photograph and stones. In recent years, I tried to obtain copies of the newspaper article, but as I never knew the actual date, I was unsuccessful.

“I am very pleased to see the photograph again and sorry my older family are no longer here to know about it.”

As we recalled, the picture of Mr Collins at the top of the memorial appeared in the Oxford Journal Illustrated, although the newspaper was reluctant to name the object, simply referring to it as “an article which is not usually paraded in public”.

Under the heading, A daring feat, the paper reported: “A feat which required a large amount of agility and nerve – and it is said was accomplished in the short time of 10 minutes – was perpetuated by a junior member of the University.

“The article was placed on a pinnacle within a few feet of the top of the memorial.

“It remained there a couple of days before the authorities, with the aid of ladders and a man accustomed to building work, succeeded in removing it.”

Student pranks were once a regular feature of Oxford University life, with bicycles, clothes’ dummies and other objects being left high on buildings.