MEMOIE OF THE AUTHOE 



THOMAS ALFEED WESLEY EEES, the 

 "Alfred Wellesley Eees" of lanto the 

 Fisherman and Creatures of the Night, was born 

 December 7th, 1872, at Pembroke Dock. His 

 father, Eichard Eees, was in the employment of 

 the Admiralty as a Government Inspector of 

 Iron Contracts, and is described by his eldest 

 son as "a man of decided and admirable 

 character ; he was an unpaid preacher among 

 the Wesleyans, and one of the best preachers I 

 have had the good fortune to hear." His mother 

 was a Wilkins, belonging to a mid-Glamorgan 

 stock. While he was therefore of Welsh blood 

 on each side, he belonged both by ancestry and 

 upbringing to the English-speaking fringe of 

 South Wales, ruled in early days by Norman 

 famihes, and here and there colonised by 

 Flemings. 



Of his two brothers the eldest was a banker, 

 and the second a Wesleyan minister ; both were 

 of strong literary tastes, and acquired libraries 

 alike remarkable in extent and rich in rare books 



