128 Thomas Sergeant Hall. [vKxXML 



THOMAS SERGEANT HALL. 



Thomas Sergeant Hall was the son of a well-known Geelong 

 citizen, Thomas March Hall, who, again, was the son of an 

 English nonconformist clergyman. Dr. Hall's father was at 

 first entered at Woodhouse Grove School, but, on account of 

 weak health, was withdrawn, and educated privately. As 

 usual in those days, his education was along classical lines, but 

 he had a keen love of Nature, and when he entered upon a 

 business life at Wakefield, in Yorkshire — a life that meant 

 starting work daily at 7 a.m. and ending at 10 p.m. — he used 

 to be up in the still earlier hours of the morning roaming about 

 amongst the English woods. The life was too strenuous, and, 

 after a serious breakdown, he left England in company with 

 a few others, amongst whom were Messrs. George and William 

 Hitchcock — names well known in Geelong, where they landed 

 in 1849. 



With his travelling companions he went, at a later date, to 

 the goldfields, where, fortunately for himself, he had to live 

 an open-air life that completely established his health. Leaving 

 the goldfields, he entered into business — first in Ballarat, and 

 later on in Geelong, where his son. T. S. Hall, was born, on 23rd 

 December, 1858. 



It was from his father, who was widely read and had a keen 

 love of Nature, that Hall inherited his tendency towards and 

 his keen interest in scientific work. 



It is interesting to note, in view of his marked capacity for 

 expressing himself clearly in simple language, that one of his 

 father's sisters married a Mr. R. Sergeant, whose daughter, 

 Emily Frances, was the well-known writer. She was born in 

 1851 and died in 1004. During her life she wrote no fewer 

 than ninety novels, and it was from his connection with her 

 family that Dr. Hall acquired his second name of Sergeant. 



In 1867 he entered the Geelong Grammar School, remaining 

 there until the close of 1877, when he was nineteen years old. 

 Mr. Bracebridge Wilson was then head-master, but, possibly 

 because Hall was not a boarder, he does nol seem to have come 

 much into contacf with him, which, in view of the head- 

 master's devotion to scientific work, is a matter of surprise and 

 1. J. L. Cuthbertson was the man who influenced him 

 most, and Hall entered fully into the life of the school, both 

 in work (such as it then was) and in sports racing, boating, 

 and football. We read in the Quarterly. the school 

 magazine, for 1877, that in the football match againsl Wesley, 

 played on the St. Kilda ground, " Austin, Smith, the two 

 De Littles, and Hall shone brilliantly"; and. in the brief 

 account of player- given at the end o\ the yeai Hall is described 

 as "the fastesl man with the ball in the twenty; can gel his 



