196 LOCUSTS IN ESSEX. 



He was descended from a good Essex family ; was possessed of untiring in- 

 dustry, patience, and accuracy, and became a most competent and learned archae- 

 ologist and herald, especially devoted to Roman and Mediaeval antiquities. 



The wanton destruction of sepulchral monuments which took place in the 

 earlier years of Church restoration, at Leigh and other places in Kssex, raised his 

 indignation ; and in consequence he determined to visit and describe all t^e 

 churches in the county. After over forty years" work, the results are embodied in 

 five folio volume; of MS., Avith all the armorial bearings coloured, and this work, 

 with an illustrated copy of Morant's Essex, containing many hundreds of his pen 

 and ink drawings, and extra prints, are, with other valuable MS. collections, be- 

 queathed by him to the Essex Archaeological Society To the "Transactions" 

 of this Society he contributed nearly fifty papers, besides plates and etchings. 



For several years he was hon. secretary to the Antiquarian Etching Club, 

 which existed from 1849 to 1853, and for this work alone he etched thirty-nine 

 copper plates. He was also a constant contributor of etchings to Mr. Roach- 

 Smith's " Collectanea Antiqua." He wrote numerous articles for " The E!ast 

 Anglian," and other magazines and newspapers. He was also well-known as a 

 staunch churchman, a lecturer on Ecclesiastical Art and Antiquities ; and was a 

 fair Welsh scholar, and an enthusiastic admirer of the wild romantic scenery of 

 Wales. 



For forty years he occupied a position in the Bank of England, retiring in 

 1877, when he returned to Leigh. 



His wife, who was the daughter of Mr. Jonathan Wood, of Hadleigh Castle, to 

 whom he had been married for forty-seven years, died in 1884, and was buried in 

 the " God's acre " of Hadleigh church. The great interest they ever took in this 

 Early Norman church is evidenced by several beautiful stained glass windows, 

 which were placed therein in memory of Mrs. King's parents, herself, and the 

 wife of her eldest son. Here also the remains of Mr. King were laid to rest on 

 the 20th of November last. 



WALTEi'i Crouch. 



"LOCUSTS IN ESSEX." 



A NEWSPAPER scare has recently been in circulation consequent u])on the 

 ■^^*- discovery of considerable numbers of dead locusts in some foreign hay im- 

 ported into the Ongar and other districts in Essex, and the subject was deemed of 

 sufficient importance to justify a question b}^ Major Rasch in Parliament. Mr. 

 Thompson, Editor of the " Essex County Chronicle," brought the matter for- 

 ward at a meeting of the Essex Field Club on November 25th (p. 181), and 

 subsequently I rec-ived a letter, accompanied with specimens, from Mr. R. H. 

 Muglestone, of "Little Clayden's Farm," East Hanningfield. There was some 

 doubt as to the country from which the hay was exported ; it was at first stated 

 to come from Russia, but, subsequently, Mr. Herbert Gladstone mentioned in 

 Parliament that the Agricultural Department had recei\ed no information of 

 the "importation of locusts in Russian hay, and inquiry had led the President 

 of the Board of Trade to think that the paragraphs which had recently ap- 

 ]ieared in the newspapers were based on the fact that Argentina hay frequently 

 contained a large number of dead locusts." 



1 submitted specimens, kindly sent to me by Mr. Muglestone, to Mr. W. 



