26 William Cole (1844-1922) founder of Essex Field Club
On 25th March 1882 the Club acceded to Cole's urgent request to spend £100 out of Life Membership
Fees to buy cabinets and cases to house museum specimens. In October 1883 Cole also obtained
funding from the same source to purchase 24 chairs. Thompson (1930 p. 5), writing nearly 50 years
later, was severely critical of Cole's action in raiding this fund. The fund was not restored until
March 1917.
In November 1889 Cole revived Miller Christy's proposal made nearly ten years earlier that the
Chelmsford Museum be amalgamated with the Essex Field Club's collections. Accordingly much
time and effort was spent on pursuing this initiative. Detailed negotiations took place, arrangements
were made and the Club's collections taken to Chelmsford in the summer of 1893 (Durrant 1893 p.
113-118). However in November the belated discovery was made that the premises were in a very
poor state of repair and had no water supply or sanitation. The Council of the Essex Field Club
agreed to spend £20 putting right the defects and made a grant "not exceeding £80 for fitting out the
museum" in February 1894. In 1896, despite paying a yearly rent of £40 the museum was still not
open. Disagreements arose between the Club's officials and Chelmsford members. This was
aggravated by Cole's curious suggestion to return the Club's Library from Chelmsford to Buckhurst
Hill and open the Chelmsford Museum one day and evening a week "only to members and their
personal friends". Discussions broke down and the whole scheme was abandoned after the Club had
wasted £327. It must have appeared that civil war had broken out within the Club when Frederick
Chancellor, who had served as President from 1893-1894, sent a circular to members opposing
removing the Club's Museum from Chelmsford the day before a Special Meeting was held on 22nd
January 1898 to discuss setting up the Museum and library at Stratford. The minutes of the meeting
briefly record "Mr. W. Cole emphatically denied the truth of a great many of the allegations made by
Mr. Chancellor in his circular letter" ( Essex Naturalist 1898 Vol. 10 p. 254). It took more than a
year to sort out the ownership of certain specimens. Again Thompson writing more than 30 years
later (Thompson 1930p. 11) was indirectly very critical of Cole whenhe stated "the whole business
of amalgamation was mishandled" and " profound dissatisfaction was felt by all concerned".
In March 1893 Cole suggested seeking permission from the City of London Corporation to open a
little museum at the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge at Chingford. This was eventually opened on
2nd November 1895 with William Cole as Curator. From 1907 he tried in vain to get the Epping
Forest Committee to grant an annual sum for curatorial and other expenses. The appeal was rejected
on 7th June 1912. As a consequence Cole oddly suggested the Chingford Museum be transferred to
Ilford but fortunately, following advice from the Club's Honorary Solicitor this proposal, was not
pursued.
Following a successful appeal, which resulted in a generous donation of £4,000 from Mr. Passmore
Edwards, who laid the foundation stone on 6th October 1898, a new purpose built museum adjacent
to the College at Stratford was opened to the public by Daisy, Countess of Warwick, on 18th October
1900. The County Borough ofWest Ham had signed a formal agreement with the Club on 25th July
1898 whereby the Club's "instruments, specimens, maps, books, pictures, engravings, articles and
things of a scientific, artistic, antiquarian or topographical character" were to be housed and exhibited
in the Museum (Cole 1898 p 344). Cole was appointed Curator from 25th July 1898 so that he could
get the Club's collections ready for their new home. He held this post until ill health forced him to
resign in November 1917 (Thompson 1923 p. 167).
Cole the Editor: Cole edited the Club's journals and special handbooks for more than thirty years.
The Transactions and Proceedings were superseded in 1886 by the more manageable Essex Naturalist
from 1880. As early as March 1885 Cole was making enquiries about a new half-tone process for
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)