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PRESENTATION TO MR. WILLIAM COLE: 

 A REPORT. 



BY MILLER CHRISTY. 



[At the request of the Council of the Essex Field Club and myself, the 

 Editor of this journal has been good enough to place at my disposal a few pages 

 in order to publish a report of a matter in which every member of the Club must 

 feel a very special interest, though the Club itself is not officially connected there- 

 with. For this courtesy, I tender thanks on behalf of myself and others concerned.] 



THE Foundation of the Essex Field Club, in 1880, was due 

 to the initiative of Mr. William Cole, of Buckhurst Hill, 

 who has acted ever since as its Honorary Secretary. To his 

 energy is due, in the main, the leading position the Club now holds 

 among local scientific societies and the establishment of its 

 two Museums (the Epping Forest Museum, at Chingford, and the 

 Essex Museum of Natural History, at Stratford). He took also 

 a prominent part in the Freeing of Epping Forest. 



That a man should continue to act for over a quarter-of-a- 

 century as Honorary Secretary of a society founded by himself 

 is very unusual ; and, for some years past, it has seemed to me 

 that the time was approaching when some movement to 

 recognize formally and publicly Mr. Cole's long-continued and 

 valuable scientific, educational, and other public work (carried 

 on by him at considerable pecuniary sacrifice) would be not only 

 timely but positively called for. 



When, therefore, I found myself President of the Club in the 

 twenty-sixth year of its existence, an attempt to initiate some such 

 movement seemed to be a duty laid upon me. On consulting 

 with several Past Presidents, I found that one and all shared my 

 view as to the opportuneness of such a movement. Thus 

 encouraged, I approached others, with a view to forming a 

 Committee to take action ; for it was felt generally that the 

 object aimed at could be attained better by a separate organiza- 

 tion than by the Council of the Field Club. Ultimately, an 

 influential Committee of thirty-two persons was formed as 

 follows : — 



Professor R. Meldola, F.R.S., Pres.C.S., &c. {Chair/nan). 

 David Howard, D.L., F.I.C., F.C.S., &c. {Hon. Treasurer). 

 Miller Christy, F.L.S. {Hon. Secretary). 

 Geo. Avenell I. Chalklev Gould 



John Avery, F.S.S. J. E. Harting, F.Z.S., &c. 



Professor G. S. Boulger, F.L.S. , Thomas Vincent Holmes, F.G.S., 



F.G.S. F.A.I. 



