THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
81
during several days of hard labour, in writing and reading. Admiral Sir William
Penn lived in one of the houses in the "Mall," and here his more famous son,
William Penn, spent his early boyhood, and went to Bishop Harsnett's School at
Chigwell. His serious deportment clashed with the Admiral's notions. He
turned Quaker, and was even apprehended at a Quakers' meeting and sent to
prison. After his father's death he turned bis steps to the New World, having a
grant of land on the Delaware from Charles II., and ultimately became, as he tells
us in his last will and testament, "so called cheife proprietor and governour of
the Province of Pensilvania, and the territoryes thereunto belonging." He
came back to England, and lived about sixteen years, dying in 1711, at the age
of 74, at Ruscombe, Berks.
At about six o'clock a well earned tea was served by Messrs. Riggs and Sons, in
the Fitzgerald Room, near Christ Church Green (formerly called Spratt Hall
Green). After tea a meeting was held, Mr. E. A. Fitch, President, in the chair.
Mr. Fitch read a very interesting paper on "Essex Heronries," in illustration of
which he exhibited a Heron's nest from the Birch Heronry, and he and Mr. R.
W. Christy a clutch of five eggs from the heronry at Boreham. He also exhibited
a coloured drawing of the Wanstead Heronry, by Whimper, which will be repro-
duced in sepia, to illustrate Mr. Fitch's paper when published in the Essex
Naturalist. Mr. Crouch read some notes on "Wanstead and its Worthies,"
the substance of which is embodied in the foregoing account. Mr. Crouch ex-
hibited in illustration of his remarks, a selection from his own very fine collection
of old engravings, maps, plans, books, etc., relating to the history and topography
of the village.
A very hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fitch and to Mr. Crouch for
their services, on the proposal of Mr. White and Professor Meldola, and a few
remarks upon the connection of Penn with Wanstead, were made by Mr. Fisher
Unwin. Among the visitors at the meeting were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pennell,
the American artist and authoress, and joint collaborators in the charming
"Canterbury Pilgrimage."
[We are indebted to Mr. Crouch for the views of old Wanstead Church and
House which formed parts of larger engravings, and which have been reproduced
by the photo-etching process.—Ed.]
Ordinary Meeting, Saturday, April 28th, 1888.
The Eighty-eighth Ordinary Meeting was held in the Public Hall, Loughton, at
seven o'clock, Mr. E. A. Fitch, President, in the chair.
A number of books and journals, presented to or purchased for the library since
the last meeting, were laid upon the table, and the following were elected
members of the Club :—Messrs. W. Allen Stanley Edwards, F.E.S., Thomas
Kemble, J.P., etc., C. Lorenzen, and T. J. Whitehead.
Mr. Oldham exhibited a box of various species of insects, principally Diptera
and Neuroptera, recently collected by himself.
Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited the specimen of the Black-headed Gull (Larus
ridibundus), shot on March 21st in the Roding Valley between Woodford Bridge
and Wanstead, alluded to in a note in the Essex Naturalist for April (vol. ii.,
page 53). The bird is very uncommon in the neighbourhood ; the specimen was
an adult male in full summer plumage. Mr. Crouch alluded to the winter and
summer change of plumage in this bird, which had been found to be so puzzling
by the early zoologists, and referred to a case recorded by Yarrell of a bird in the