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PRESENTATION TO MR. WILLIAM COLE:
A REPORT.
BY MILLER CHRISTY.
[At the request of the Council of the Essex Field Club and myself, the
Editor of this journal has been good enough to place at my disposal a few pages
in order to publish a report of a matter in which every member of the Club must
feel a very special interest, though the Club itself is not officially connected there-
with. For this courtesy, I tender thanks on behalf of myself and others concerned.]
THE Foundation of the Essex Field Club, in 1880, was due
to the initiative of Mr. William Cole, of Buckhurst Hill,
who has acted ever since as its Honorary Secretary. To his
energy is due, in the main, the leading position the Club now holds
among local scientific societies and the establishment of its
two Museums (the Epping Forest Museum, at Chingford, and the
Essex Museum of Natural History, at Stratford). He took also
a prominent part in the Freeing of Epping Forest.
That a man should continue to act for over a quarter-of-a-
century as Honorary Secretary of a society founded by himself
is very unusual ; and, for some years past, it has seemed to me
that the time was approaching when some movement to
recognize formally and publicly Mr. Cole's long-continued and
valuable scientific, educational, and other public work (carried
on by him at considerable pecuniary sacrifice) would be not only
timely but positively called for.
When, therefore, I found myself President of the Club in the
twenty-sixth year of its existence, an attempt to initiate some such
movement seemed to be a duty laid upon me. On consulting
with several Past Presidents, I found that one and all shared my
view as to the opportuneness of such a movement. Thus
encouraged, I approached others, with a view to forming a
Committee to take action; for it was felt generally that the
object aimed at could be attained better by a separate organiza-
tion than by the Council of the Field Club. Ultimately, an
influential Committee of thirty-two persons was formed as
follows:—
Professor R. Meldola, F.R.S.. Pres.C.S., &c. (Chairman).
David Howard, D.L., F.I.C, F.C.S., &C. (Hon. Treasurer).
Miller Christy, F.L.S. (Hon. Secretary),
Geo. Avenell I. Chalkley Gould
John Avery, F.S.S. J. E. Harting, F.Z.S., &c.
Professor G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., Thomas Vincent Holmes, F.G.S.,
F.G.S. F.A.I.