Francis William Pixley (1852-1933)
Francis Pixley, the first Chairman of the Library Committee, appealed to members of the Institute for help in acquiring works for the Library upon the opening of Chartered Accountants’ Hall in 1893 with the ambitious target of building a complete collection of new and old books on accounting. His appeal received a great response, forming the core of the library collection.
His obituary in The Accountant (6 May 1933) said: "Perhaps one of the greatest interests in Pixley's professional life was the care of the Institute library, which under his fostering influence has gradually grown to be the most complete collection of works relating to accountancy subjects from all parts of the world."
It is a measure of his dedication that Francis Pixley chaired the Library committee for 40 years, only relinquishing the post a few months before his death due to his failing health. Writing about Pixley after his death, Cosmo Gordon said that "the collection owes much to Pixley's energy and instinct for collecting."
Pixley was the author of the first textbook on auditing and many other works that are today recognised as important foundations of the modern profession. The early editions of his works have themselves earned a place in the ICAEW collection of rare and important books.
Francis William Pixley was a member of the ICAEW council from 1888 and would go on to become ICAEW President in 1903-4. In 1904 he represented ICAEW at the first International Congress of Accountants in St Louis. Besides his roles at ICAEW Francis Pixley was President of the Chartered Accountants' Dining Society, Vice-President of the London Students' Society and was heavily involved with the Chartered Accountants' Benevolent Association (CABA).
Francis Pixley was the author of a history of the baronetage and his obituary states that "it was largely owing to his efforts that a roll of Baronets was formed" which is now kept by the Lord Chancellor.
Cosmo Alexander Gordon (1886-1965)
Cosmo Gordon was born on 23 June 1886 at Ellon, Aberdeen. After studying at Rugby Cosmo made his way to King’s College, Cambridge, in 1904. In his time at Cambridge Cosmo memorably participated in Henry James’s visit in 1908, alongside Geoffrey Keynes and Rupert Brooke.
Upon leaving Cambridge in 1911 Cosmo was appointed to the role of ICAEW Librarian at the age of 24. Two years later, in December 1913, Cosmo travelled to Prague to examine the Kheil collection of over 1,500 early books on accounting, which ICAEW subsequently purchased.
After war broke out Cosmo joined the London Scottish, before being commissioned in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and then the Grenadier Guards. Cosmo won the Military Cross but was gassed shortly before the war’s end, necessitating a lengthy stay in hospital and many years of convalescence on a farm before he could return to a career he loved, surrounded by books.
In 1929 Cosmo became a cataloguer at Sotheby’s and was re-appointed as ICAEW Librarian in 1933, where he resumed his work to build up the rare book collection. However, wartime once again proved a distraction, with Cosmo taking on responsibility for the retail distribution of all goods except food throughout Scotland.
After the war Cosmo returned to the ICAEW Library in early 1946 before retiring to Insch, Aberdeenshire, in late 1948. Retirement allowed Cosmo to focus on his own scholarly work and his bibliography of Lucretius was published in 1962. Cosmo died on 9 May 1965.