THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.—REPORTS OF MEETINGS. 157
PICTORIAL RECORDS OF ESSEX : SCHEME
INAUGURATED.
Saturday, July 8th, 1905.
On the invitation of the Earl and Countess of Warwick, members of the Club
and many friends, in all about seventy, assembled on this day at Easton Lodge,
Dunmow, the Essex seat of the family, for the purpose of inaugurating the
"Photographic and Pictorial Survey of Essex." This Association was founded,
as a Permanent Committee of the Essex Field Club, on the 17th December 1904,
for "the purpose of gathering a permanent collection of photographs, engravings,
sketches, and pictures of objects of interest, as well as maps, plans and other
documents, selected with a view of giving a comprehensive pictorial history of
the County of Essex, and the neighbouring rivers and sea." The general scope
of the scheme upon which the Survey is working was set out by Mr. A. E.
Briscoe in a paper published in the Essex Naturalist (Vol. xiii., pp. 1-5), and
since reprinted. To this, and to the official Prospectus, the reader is referred.
Such recognition and encouragement was quite characteristic of Lady
Warwick, through whose kindness the privilege of a meeting in Easton Park was
due. The bulk of the party made Bishop Stortford the starting point in the
brakes, but some left the train at Takeley, where the brakes called.
The weather was gloriously fine, and the drive to Easton Lodge was much
enjoyed. In the Park, the visitors had, in addition to the lovely scenery, much
wild life to interest them. Hundreds of rabbits skurried to safe quarters round
the base of great trees, which formed a noble avenue, and, later, large herds of
deer, many possessing fine antlers, herds of cattle, and numerous sheep of special
breeds were to be seen. Arriving in front of the mansion, the Countess,
accompanied by her son, Lord Brooke, met the party, and gave them a cordial
welcome, subsequently escorting them through the house to the lovely and
extensive gardens on the north side. The Italian Garden, with its delightful
lily pond, was much admired, and after roaming round a large lake, which lilies
and bulrushes shared with many varieties of water fowl, the visitors returned by
way of the rose garden, which was most beautiful of all.
Lady Warwick presided at the luncheon, with Lord Brooke in the vice-
chair, and at the conclusion of the repast Mr. David Howard, J.P., D.L.,
proposed the health of the hostess, and expressed the thanks of the visitors
individually and collectively for the kindness extended to them, Lady Warwick,
in replying, said that she had been requested by Lord Warwick to express his
regret at not being able to be with them, but he was at Brest, on a yachting
cruise. She was sure the photographic project would be a very useful addition to
the work of the Essex Field Club, whose members she was always pleased to
welcome at Easton Lodge.
A meeting was subsequently held in a commodious double tent, amongst trees
at the back of the house, furnished most comfortably and having something of an
Eastern aspect. Mr. Howard again presided, and said that any of them who had
studied history knew how we suffered because records had not been kept, and he
often longed in vain for information on various points, The Club would
undoubtedly earn the thanks of posterity if it kept pictorial records of passing
events and places of interest in Essex.
Mr. Miller Christy, the President of the Club, said that the Council of the
Photographic Survey was, strictly speaking, a Committee of the Field Club,