EM Forster's name plate returned to King's, 56 years after it disappeared

Fifty six years after its disappearance, the door plate from EM Forster's rooms at King's has been returned to the College.

Forster (KC 1897) spent the last decades of his life as an Honorary Fellow at King's, after he was forced to vacate the family home in Surrey he had shared with his mother for more than 20 years. While residing in College, an archival account notes "he either taught little or not at all, held no college office, nor sat on any committee, but nevertheless came to know and influence a large number of undergraduates, acting as the sort of 'bachelor don' that had disappeared since his own days as an undergraduate."

One of these students recalled "When I was at secondary school, one of the (few) English language texts which I enjoyed reading was E.M.Forster's short story 'The Machine Stops'. When I came up to King's, finding Mr Forster was in residence, I bought a copy of his collected short stories. One afternoon I approached him as he was sitting in Webb's court and asked him to sign it, which he did most courteously. The book remains a treasured possession.

After my final exams, in early June 1970, I spent an evening (or several) in the College bar with friends. 'Drowning our sorrows' might rightly characterise the mood. Mention was made that Mr Forster had just died and, somewhat irrationally, a plan was hatched on how the door plate on Mr Forster's room might be preserved for posterity. (To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that thought was uppermost in our minds.) As if by magic, a suitable screwdriver was produced and the door plate was removed.

 After graduation, I went home and took with me, somewhat to my surprise, the door plate from Mr Forster's room. In the intervening 55 years or so, it has been kept in various boxes labelled 'Souvenirs', moved from house to house, seldom seeing the light of day. Eventually, having the opportunity to revisit the College, I was able to find and return the door plate, proud that I had preserved it for so long and grateful that it was so unquestioningly accepted."

Forster's old rooms now form the Graduate Suite, which provides a social and study space for graduate students. The mantlepiece designed by his father still surrounds a green tiled fireplace, and a book cabinet which once belonged to him sits opposite. The Graduate Student Union, KCGU, recently voted to rename the rooms the EM Forster Suite in his honour.