592 Wilts Obituary. 



Richard Faulkner Curry, h.m. inspector of Schools for 



Wiltshire and the City of Bath. Died August 20th, 1907. Buried at 

 Burnham, Somerset. Born, 1850, at Chettle, Dorset, son of Admiral 

 Douglas Curry, afterwards of Shottery Hall, Stratford-on-Avon. Edu- 

 cated at "Wimborne Grammar School, Brighton, Harrow 1864, and 

 Christ Church, Oxford, 1868. Married, 1878, Mary, second daughter of 

 the Eight Hon. John Bright. Head master of " Trinity College," 

 Stratford-on-Avon, 1879. H.M. Inspector of Schools, 1884, from which 

 date he lived in Bath, From 1889 until his death he inspected Wiltshire 

 schools and was largely instrumental in raising the standard of the 

 schools in the county, which at his accession to office he found very low. 

 " The change that took place between 1890 and 1907 was complete, and 

 it was largely his work. Quietly and unostentatiously he did it, for he 

 was an ideal inspector ; he had no fads ; he hated red tape and officialism, 

 and he never tried to impose uniformity of pattern." He was respected 

 and esteemed both by managers and teachers, and his sudden death was 

 greatly regretted. 



Sir Samuel Canning, Civll Engineer, died Sept. 24th, 1908. Son 

 of Robert Canning, of Ogbourne St. Andrew, educated at Salisbui-y, 

 married a daughter of W. H. Gale, of Graleley. He was a pioneer 

 of deep sea telegraphy. He began this work in 1850, and was 

 chief assistant to Sir Charles Bright in laying the first Atlantic cable in 

 1858. He laid the Gulf of St. Lawrence cable in 1857. He was in 

 charge of the laying of the second Atlantic cable in 1865, and, on its 

 failure, he laid the third cable in 1866 in the " Great Eastern " and 

 recovered the cable of the previous year, for which he was knighted. He 

 also laid the cable connecting England with Gibraltar, Malta, and 

 Alexandria. Obit, notice, Devizes Gazette, Oct. 1st, 1908. 



