Jose Rizal in London
Who knew that somewhere in London Jose Rizal lived for several months. He was only 26 at the time, and spent hours reading an old Spanish history book about the Philippines.
Jose Rizal is regarded as a National Hero, who was executed in Manila by the Spanish 128 years ago today on Dec 30, 1896. He wrote novels criticizing Spanish colonization which eventually inspired the Philippine revolution.
In 1888, 8 years before his death, Rizal lived in London not too far from Regent’s Park and Camden Lock. The latter known today as a tourist destination for various markets, shops, and art. Upon arriving in England in May of 1888, Rizal stayed at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.
He was there to brush up on his English, but most importantly to annotate an old history book about the Philippines by Spanish colonial official Antonio de Morga.
Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas or History of the Philippines by Morga is an important first-hand account of early Spanish colonization. It was published in Mexico in 1609, and gained importance not only because of the stature of Morga, but also because he would be the first “layman” to write a history of the Spanish Philippines. He was neither a writer among the clergy or a religious chronicler.
When Rizal was in London, he had already published his first of two novels, Noli Mi Tangere (Touch me not), and was receiving criticism from Spanish authorities about what he wrote. But Rizal wasn’t finished with them yet. Not only was he to write a sequel (El Filibusterismo or The Subversive), he would spend most of his time in London annotating Morga’s History of the Philippines. His goal was to “present a new edition to the public, above all the Filipino public… I do this solely for my country, because this work will bring me neither honor nor money,” he wrote.
He eventually found lodging at 37 Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill, which still stands today. It belonged to the Beckett family who let him stay in their home for £2 pounds a week. He spent most of his days going to the British Museum copying text from Morga’s book and adding notes about his thoughts. The British Museum and Rizal’s London home are still in the same locations today, as they were 136 years ago when Rizal worked on his annotations.
The room where Rizal laid the book open to read and make these notes was the Reading Room, located near the center of the British Museum. The museum still has Rizal’s handwriting, signature, and address for his register of admission. He noted his address, “37 Chalcot Crescent Primrose Hill.”
Rizal finished his annotations and published them in Paris in 1890. This is 2 years after he began copying the initial book by Morga by hand, while writing his annotations. Obviously, there were no copying machines back then, so copying books in this way seems so alien and rigorous to us now!
I just downloaded a copy of Rizal’s Sucesos in PDF format here. It is basically Morga’s book with Rizal’s annotations (which I really see as criticisms). But it’s all in Spanish. I took Spanish in high school, but all I remember are the words that have long been integral parts of the Cebuano language. Words like plato, cuchara, or any other loan words that deal with food :).
There is an English version of Morga’s book by JS Cummins published in 1971 which might be another way to access this piece of Philippine history about Philippine history.
Until then, either I learn some Spanish, use Google translate, and/or read through Cummins translation to get a deeper idea of what Rizal was thinking after completing his annotations.
