A PAINSTAKINGLY assembled archive of Island history is to be preserved at Carisbrooke Castle Museum for posterity — and research.
The Brannon Archive of engravings and steel and copper plates held by the County Press and Island expert Ken Hicks are being handed over at the IW College next Friday, April 28.
The venue was chosen because Mr Hicks has formed an association with the college and the students who study history, including that of the famous family.
Guests at the event are set to include the Island’s Lord Lieutenant Maj Gen Martin White.
The handover will be made by County Press chairman Felix Hetherington to the chairman of museum trustees Gill Kennett at the launch of Mr Hicks’s authoritative new book, An Island Legacy — The Isle of Wight Through the Eyes of the Brannon Family 1817-2017. The profit from the sale of the limited edition of 1,000 books is set to be split between the Earl Mountbatten Hospice and to provide a small bursary for an Island student of history at university.
Tony Spalding, who has worked with Mr Hicks promoting the Legacy project said: “Students are looking at how the engravings were produced, the subjects contained within them and the side stories associated with them.”
The archive includes more than 100 steel and copper plates by George, Alfred and Philip Brannon, 12 books of engravings, thousands of prints and memorabilia, which give a powerful social history insight.
The prints will be available for research and will be occasionally on public display at the college.
It was ‘Young George’ — Alfred’s son — who founded the County Press in 1884, exactly 100 years after the birth of his grandfather, George.
The book and the archive handover celebrate the 200th anniversary of ‘Old George’ Brannon producing his first work.

County Press managing director Robin Freeman said: “We felt it important to know this important archive is both preserved and readily available to a wider public for as many people as possible to see it and use it.”
The County Press has retained a few original plates and engravings, some of the tools used to work the plates and the leather armrest used by all three engravers to keep their hands steady.