THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLIV.] NOVEMBEE, 1911. [No. 582 



GEORGE HENRY VERRALL, F.E.S. 

 (Plate VIII.) 



Geoege Henry Verrall, of Sussex Lodge, Newmarket, who 

 died on September 16th after a somewhat long and harassmg 

 illness, was born at Lewes on February 7th, 1848, and was 

 therefore in his sixty-fourth year. Educated at the Lewes 

 Grammar School from 1857 to 1864, his early taste for entomo- 

 logy and botany was fostered in a congenial atmosphere among 

 the beautiful Sussex Downs, which have inspired with the true 

 love of Nature so many of her most ardent disciples. 



At first secretary to his eldest brother, the late Mr. Fred. 

 Verrall, he afterwards joined the well-known firm of racecourse 

 managers and bankers, Messrs, Pratt & Co., and was concerned as 

 auctioneer with the sale of many famous racehorses. And in this 

 connection it is interesting to know that from among the heir- 

 looms of his family he possessed a hammer of soHd gold, " to com- 

 memorate the triumph of integrity, March 21st, 1842," presented 

 to his uncle, the late Mr. P. Verrall, which was exchanged for 

 the customary hammer whenever the bidding rose above four 

 figures ! But though intimately associated with the Turf in all 

 its branches, he has told the writer of this notice that he 

 never made a bet on a horse. He was, indeed, as fearless 

 a critic of the methods of some so-called "sportsmen" as 

 he was the enemy of all that suggested a mean and sordid 

 approach to the greater questions of life ; nor was his outspoken 

 criticism ever levelled at those who did not deserve it. So it 

 happened that, when at length he was persuaded to enter the 

 lists as a Parliamentary candidate, he was as popular with his 

 opponents as with his supporters. Mr. Verrall's tenure of the 

 East Cambridgeshire seat, which he wrested from Sir Charles 

 Rose on January 24tb, 1910, was not destined to be long main- 

 tained, however ; and, after but nine months of Parliamentary 

 life, the former occupant was reinstated. No doubt the great strain 

 of two winter elections in a single year was the beginning of the 

 end for him. A short time since he had announced his decision 



ENTOM. — NOVEMBER, 1911. 2 C 



