24
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
declare that grand old woodland also as a bird-sanctuary has, for the time
at least, failed.
So, too, the attempt, made in conjunction with other interested Societies,
to save the old Court House at Barking from demolition was unsuccessful
owing only to lack of adequate financial support from the public.
In conclusion, your Council congratulates the Club on the keen interest
which is manifested by so many of the members in its affairs, and looks
forward hopefully to continued collaboration from all the membership
in promoting its interests and extending its beneficent and educational
activities.
DEDICATION OF HATFIELD FOREST.
SATURDAY, 10TH MAY, 1924.
On this date, some 600 acres of this magnificent Woodland, the muni-
ficent gift of the late Mr. Edward North Buxton, and of members of
his family, to the people of Essex and of England, were formally handed
over by Mr. Gerald Buxton to the National Trust for the use, enjoyment
and recreation of the public.
Mr. Edward North Buxton's original purchase comprised some 215
acres, which have been increased by his family, and by Major Archer
Houblon's gift of Elgin Coppice, to 600 acres.
In presenting the deeds of the Forest to Viscount Ullswater, the Hon.
Vice-President of the National Trust, Mr. Buxton said :—
My Lords, Ladies & Gentlemen,
My position here to-day is not a personal one. I am here to-day to
represent my father. I ask your indulgence in what to me is a very
difficult position. Not many sons have had the opportunity of enjoying
a father's companionship for 60 years, and few, if any, of such a
father as mine. Therefore if I had not done my best to finish off his
work, I could never have forgiven myself.
I want as briefly as possible to explain to you how it was he acquired
this Forest to present to the Nation, just before he died. Many of you
know how essential in his opinion open spaces are for the people, and
how he never spared himself to preserve them. About twelve months
ago he learned that this Forest would probably be in the market, and
he went several times to look round it. He came to the conclusion that
he ought to make an effort to preserve it as a public space. I myself
went with him once on a very hot day in July, and although we only
walked about a mile through it, he was very much exhausted, but he
said to me that he should like this to be "the crowning effort of his
life."
I was personally rather relieved when, shortly afterwards, he said
to me that he had come to the conclusion that he was too old and too
weak to undertake it. But when the sale actually took place in October
last (he happened to see in the paper that the sale was to take place
that day) he sent telegrams offering to buy the Forest portion. How-
ever, the property was sold in one lot. He blamed himself very much
for having lost the opportunity.