170
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
hand. A lack of concentration on the work of the moment,
while mentally absorbed in far-reaching plans for future develop-
ments, may not unjustly be laid to his charge. In such junctures,
the loyal unseen co-operation of his devoted brothers and sisters
was an invaluable asset; but for such service many of his
schemes would have been stillborn.
Cole was elected a member of the Entomological Society
in 1873; and he remained a Fellow of that Society until his
death. In 1896 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society,
and was transferred to the Associateship of the Society in 1910.
The number of scientific papers written by William Cole
is not large. The routine work of the principal honorary sec-
retaryship of the Essex Field Club, and the somewhat onerous
tasks imposed by the editorship of its Journal, left little leisure
for original research. His chief claim to the recognition of the
scientific world, and, on the part of members of our Club, to 
their affectionate remembrance, is the organising ability which
founded the Club and which "enthused" so many influential
men to give the young society their personal support, and the
loyalty which always placed the interests of his offspring in the
front rank. Our Club was, indeed, an obsession of its Founder;
it was regarded almost as a private possession; and the present
writer is in a position to assert that its welfare became more
and more the subject of his anxious pre-occupation.
Early in the year 1910, Cole experienced a serious nervous
breakdown, from which he never completely recovered. A
grant from the Royal Society, obtained through his old friend,
Professor Meldola, enabled him to travel abroad for a short
while, and the change of surroundings, inducing a corresponding
change of thought, effected a temporary re-establishment of his
health; but he aged perceptibly; and a recrudescence of his
illness in 1916 proved to be permanent, and henceforth, he was
compelled to relinquish participation in the many activities which
had, hitherto, engrossed his attention. The outbreak of the
Great War, and the consequent shattering, as it seemed to him,
of all his ideals, affected him gravely: and the gradual loss, by
death, of many of his old friends, and of his brothers and sisters,
served still further to aggravate his malady.
In 1919, through the influence of powerful men of science
who were acquainted with his work, Cole was granted a Civil